


Adventures in Space

by RedBlackDragon



Series: The Path Forward [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Beaver Hunk, Bird Pidge, Cursing and excessive use of italics, Dog shiro, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Ferret Lance, Gen, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Keith loves fluff, More tags to be added, Panther Keith, Past Abuse, Random Panic-Attacks, Shifter AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:08:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 67,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22602232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedBlackDragon/pseuds/RedBlackDragon
Summary: After being shot into space by a giant robotic Blue Lion, Keith, Shiro and three other humans find themselves in an alien castle fighting purple lizard cats.Keith is still plagued by his past and not ready yet to let his new so-called team-mates be part of it.Visiting new planets and meeting diverse alien races will give the Paladin‘s of Voltron much to do and the opportunity to gain new experiences.
Series: The Path Forward [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579603
Comments: 103
Kudos: 120





	1. A New Adventure Awaits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, it‘s really been much too long since I last updated and I haven‘t made much progess.

The descent onto the planet became jerky as soon as they entered the atmosphere.

”Guys, personal space. Hunk, your breath is killing me.”

”Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?”

”It got us away from that alien warship, didn‘t it?”

”I don‘t know if you noticed, but we‘re in an alien warship.”

”Oh, are you scared?”

”With you at the helm? Terrified.” Keith‘s mood was really at a low point, even the discovery of an awesome robot wasn‘t helping much. The only thing that was bettering the situation was that Shiro was back with him.

”All right, knock it off. No one‘s happy to be in this situation, but we‘re here now. If we want to get through this, we‘ve got to do it together.”

”So, what do we do?”

”First, we find out where we‘re headed. Lance?”

”I don‘t know. I‘m sorry. The lion‘s not talking to me anymore. Wait! Wait, wait, wait. Sssh. Listen. I think I hear something.”

”I‘m hearing it too.”

”It‘s, uh— It‘s kind of a— a high-pitched squeal?”

”Come on, Lance!”

_ Uhrg, oh my god, this is so disgusting. Why me?  
_ Keith just wanted to leave this shuttle as soon as possible. First Hunk and now Lance. He needed fresh air before he was adding to their dilemma. 

”But seriously, there’s a castle up ahead.” Finally!!

As soon as they landed Keith wanted to storm out. This all had been a little to much proximity. After one year being pretty much alone, Keith‘s skin was crawling again.

”Keep your guard up.”

”Something wrong?”

”My crew was captured by aliens once. I‘m not going to let it happen again.”

When all of them were finally outside, the lion lifted its head to the sky and let out an ear-shattering roar.

”No! I knew it was gonna eat us.”

But instead of eating them the doors to the large castle opened in front of them.

So they just entered the big ass alien castle like the dumb teenagers in those horror movies.

”Hellooooo”

He tensed his body as Hunk‘s voice echoed around the empty halls. All of them looked back at him.  
’ _Really, Hunk? Really? Yeah sure, why don‘t you just pack out some siren to alert our presence?’_  
But luckily nothing happen-  
_Hold for identity scan_  
They were surrounded by an blue light enveloping them. Not soon later, lights were appearing on the walls, directing way further into the castle.

The inside of the castle looked even more breathtaking than the outside. The walls and everything else was held in white and teal colors with an futuristic style to it. But well, what do you expect, they were aliens afterall.

They followed the way the light went on. During their track along the various hallways Keith sniffed the air to detect if there where any life forms in this building. But surprisingly he smelled nothing. No scent of another person or living being. Not even an older one. The castle looked like there hadn‘t been someone here to clean in maybe max a month. But in this case there normally would be some residue smell.  
He would have liked to try to listen to any sounds, after all there could be beings without a smell, or simply some robots. Keith saw an ginormous alien warship, so now he believed that there could be a planet ruled by bots.  
Well he would have liked to try if his companions wouldn‘t have stomped through the corridors with their feet and commenting everything they saw. And he definitely wouldn‘t bring out his animal ears. No thank you. He barely knew them, not even Shiro knew about him and he was -  _ is _ his best friend. 

Soon they arrived in a bigger room with circular shapes forming a circle on the ground. Katie - or Pidge - being the genius that she was immediately went to the big console in the middle. Just when all of them were gathered in the middle one of the circles moved up showing one capsule like cell with a person standing inside, followed by a second one. Said person was released and stumbled forwards calling for her father. It was a beautiful young woman with tan skin and long cloud like hair. Before she could fall to the ground Lance caught her.

”Hello.”  _ Oh no, lance had that smirk on again, right?  _ He couldn‘t see his face but guessing from the little he knew from the Garrison, he would try to flirt again.

”Who are you? Where am I?”

”I‘m Lance. And you‘re right here in my arms.”  _ Yep, as expected. _

”Your ears.”

”Yeah?”

”They‘re hideous. What‘s wrong with them?”  
  
Their ears?  Keith subconsciously touched one of his.

”Nothing‘s wrong with them. They heard exactly what you said about them!”

Before one of them could even react, the woman had gripped Lance‘s ear and turned him around twisting his arm behind his body.  
_ Good job Lance. Not even five minutes in the alien castle and you already angered the residents. _

”Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?”

”A giant blue lion brought us here. That‘s all we know.”

”How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless... How long has it been?”

”We don‘t know what you‘re talking about. Why don‘t you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help.”

”I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I‘ve got to find out where we are and how long we‘ve been asleep.”

While the princess was trying on the control the other capsule opened and a man with orange hair and a giant mustache left yelling about  _ enemy combatants _ and attacking Lance, but instead stumbling over his own feet and almost falling to the ground.  
Both of them proceeded to make some stupid moves trying to beat one another.  
Keith just rolled his eyes.  _ Great, now they had two of this sort. _

”It can‘t be.” Apparently Allura had found the information she was looking for.

”What is it?”

”We‘ve been asleep for 10000 years.”

_ Woah, what?! 10000?! _

She seemed to be drowning in some sort of memory.  
”Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, father is gone. Our entire civilization... Zarkon!”  
”Zarkon?” Shiro was looking like he had seen a ghost.

”He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people.”

”I remember now... I was his prisoner.” Keith had to supress his shudder. He didn‘t really want to think of the past now.

”He‘s still alive? Impossible!”

”I can‘t explain it. But it‘s true. He‘s searching for a super weapon called Voltron.”  
When Shiro said that, the Alteans looked like they had just seen a ghost, right before morphing to pure hatred.

”He‘s searching for it because he knows it‘s the only thing that can defeat him and that‘s exactly why we must find it before he does.”

* * *

While the Altean princess and her advisor were busy with the control panel, Keith and the others looked around the pod bay. Well, except Pidge, she was standing right next to them, sparkles in her eyes and absorbing everything the Alteans did. The castle was really amazing, and they had only seen one room and some of the hallways.

”Princess, you must eat. Its been 10000 years.”

”I‘m not hungry.”

”Man, 10000 years? That‘s like one thousand plus ten.”

_Huh what?_ ”That‘s times ten.”

”Whatever, dropout.”

Keith arrowed his eyes. _Ouch, that was low. It wasn‘t like he particularly wanted to leave the Garrison. More like the situation forced him. He just couldn‘t stand it anymore. Lance shouldn‘t complain. Didn‘t he get his position in fighter class?  
_ Keith turned away from the boy, not wanting to continue this conversation. Instead directing his attention to the aliens.  _ They‘re the last Alteans? That must hurt really bad. _ Keith understood how it was not to be in the majority and how one was normally treated then. How it was to be different. How lonely he felt.  
When they were thinking back to their now destroyed planet, they heard squeaking coming out of one of the pods. When Allura went there to look, four mice where sitting inside. Apparently, being in the same pod for over 10000 years created a mental bond between them and the Princess.

The alarms started blaring and the screen that appeared showed one of the ships like they had seen when they had left earth.

”A Galra battle ship has set its tracker to us!” Coran was exclaiming.

”How did they find us?”  
  
”I‘m not sure, but I bet it‘s Keith‘s fault.”

_ ’Ehm, excuse me?’ _

” Say whatever you‘ve got to say to make yourself feel better. After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!”

”I‘ll stick you in a wormhole!”

_ Why was he so damn annoying?! Shifting the fault to me won‘t make the situation any better! _

”Stow it, cadets! This is not time to place blame. It‘s time to work as a team. How long before they arrive?”

”At their speed. Oh, well, carry the two...” Coran was mumbling and counting on his fingers, ”I‘d say probably a couple of days.”

”Good let them come! By the time they get here you five will have reformed Voltron and together, we will destroy Zarkon‘s empire!”

Keith really had enough this day. Had all of them drunk something to let them have all kinds of fantasies?!

”Princess, there are five of those lions. How are we going to find the rest?”

* * *

Coran and Allura left the room and the other humans, not knowing their way around here, followed them to the control room.

They explained more about the Lions of Voltron and Allura was showing them a map of space and the locations of the other lions.

”As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater that science can explain.  
The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion.  
The Green Lion had an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion.  
The Blue Lion-”

”Wait. Hold up, let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?”  
  
_Sure Lance. Any more useful thoughts on the matter?_ Allura seemed just as done already with that guy as Keith. Instead of reacting to his jib, Allura just continued with her explanation as if Lance didn‘t just interrupt her.

”The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together.”

Hunk was looking around if she meant somebody else as pilot.

”The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It‘s faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion.”

_ Yeah, that seemed to describe Keith very well. Temperamental? Check. Instincts? Check. Unstable? Check. _

”Whaat? This guy?”

_ Aaaand there is Lance again, destroying the moment. _

” Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion‘s coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10000 years, it might need some work.”

”Don‘t worry, we‘ll find it soon. They don’t call me ’The Coranic’ for nothing.”

When she had finished distributing the lions to their future paladins they ran of and met in the middle forming the giant robot again they had seen before in the vision.

”Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe.”

And then it began. Hunk and Lance went with the Blue Lion to look for the Yellow Lion and Shiro went together with Pidge to go get the Green one. Keith stayed back with Allura and Coran waiting for the castle to be finished being repaired. Only then could they try to locate the Red Lion again.

When they finally returned from their trip with all three lions the castle was repaired enough to start locating the Red Lion again. While Shiro and Pidge seemed to had an exciting and realxing journey, Lance and Hunk looked like they were put into a mixer, groaning and whining like little children. Keith had to hide his smile.

”Did we find the Red Lion yet?”

”Allura just located it. There‘s a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion‘s nearby. The bad news is, it‘s onboard that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We‘re Arus!”

”They‘re here already?!”

”Yes, guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting- it’s more of an art than science.”

Just then the screen behind them flickered on and a big furry man with big ears was shown. His fur was a greyish purple and one eye was replaced with an orange glowing prothesis. 

”Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on on behalf of Emperor Zarkon Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me or I will destroy you planet.” And with that the screen went black and disappeared again.

From then on the arguments started. While one part of the team for for leaving the planet, or in Hunk‘s case form a giant lion-snake-thing, the other half was for staying and fighting. In the end, Shiro interrupted on the note that this was Allura castle and her lions. She and Coran should decide what their plan of actions was. Coran sent her to have a conversation with her father, who appearently had a hologram with all his memories in the castle.

After a while she returned. Determined and ready to fight.

Allura and Conan then proceeded to show them their new amor. They were white and had each the color of their lion. Even though they didn‘t look like it, the armor fit everyone perfectly, molding itself to its wearer. After their got their suits on, Allura gave them their weapons. For each paladin a handle, called Bayard that could shift into a certain form for its paladin. For Keith it transformed into a sword. And Pidge electrocuted Lance with hers after he made fun of it.

Then they were ready to fight. The plan was for Shiro, Pidge and Keith to infiltrate Sendak‘s ship, using the still to the Galra unknown Green Lion, while Lance and Hunk were distracting Sendak and later his fighters and destroying the ion cannon.

Keith was supposed to go into the ship and  _ feel  _ for his lion.

”Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You‘ll have to earn its respect.”

* * *

When they were inside the ship and just started to walk in one direction. Shiro seemed to have some sort of flashback to his time in captivity saying that he had been on this ship before. Pidge then was refusing to go any further without freeing the prisoners, going so far as to even tell them that Dr. Holt and Matt were her family. Keith understood. He wouldn‘t want her to leave her family behind when there was the chance that they were here. He understood from her point, after having lost Shiro  _ and  _ from the prisoner‘s point of view. 

”I‘m coming with you.”

”What?” 

”I remember were the prisoners are. Keith, you go find the Red Lion.”  
  
_ Yeah, Keith was all in when it meant freeing the prisoners but not when it meant that he had to go around the Galra ship alone and find the lion. _

” By myself?”

”Minor change of plans. You‘ll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus.”

When they heard a door open all of them started running. Pidge and Shiro in one direction and Keith in the other.  _ Great, now he had to find the lion on his own... _

He continued on his way, deciding to take on hallway only to end up at the same place after some time running around.

He tried to calm down. They said he had to feel his lion‘s presence. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ’Patience yields focus’. Only then did he finally have an idea of where he had to go. Running ahead, he soon arrived at the hangar where the lion was held. It was floating right in the middle surrounded by a particle barrier just like the blue lion before. But when he come to a stop in front of the lion, the particle barrier didn‘t went down. Not even calling or knocking had any effect. maybe Allura had been wrong and he wasn‘t supposed to be a pilot of the greatest weapon of the universe. After all, who would somebody as broken as him. Only to use him but nothing more. No one ever stayed in his life. But he tried again. 

”It‘s me Keith, you- I am your paladin!”

Again nothing, except that some droids had entered the hangar and were now shooting at him. He conjured his shield and kept standing in front of the lion, still trying to get it to open up. But nothing seemed to work. More and more bots entered the hangar and all of them were now shooting at Keith. Seeing it as a lost battle, at least for now, Keith put his whole attention on the robots in front of him.

”You‘re not getting this lion!“

It just were too many. That was when he had probably the most dumb idea he ever had. And trust him he did have some dumb ideas before. Like hitting a commander in the face. He saw the control panel and hit the button to open the air lock. He positioned himself so that the control panel was between him and the opening. He didn‘t want to be pulled out with nothing to stop him. But even that didn‘t help him when one of the guards had sneaked on from behind him and was now being pulled out. In an last attempt to save itself, it grabbed Keith‘s leg, successfully pulling him from behind the machine. Keith was able to shake it off at the last moment, letting the soldier fly into space, but he himself was now hanging only by his hands from the control station. As he tried to pull himself forward again to close the air lock some lose objects hit him on the head and his hands making him lose his grip and fly into space. He was whirling around the dark of space without an end in sight. Only then did the Lion finally jump into action. Literally jumping after Keith into space and swallowing him whole.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the red illuminated cargo bay of the Red Lion.  
’ _ What?! You only react when I’m about to die?!’  
_ He could hear light purring in his mind. He was pretty sure that the lion was amused by his actions. He climbed up into the cockpit and sat down in the pilot seat.

”Good Kitty. Let‘s roll.”

With a roar, he flew towards the other lions still battling the fighter drones.  
  


With all four lions finally in the same place they could unlock the door to the Black Lion. 

But before they could celebrate, Sendak‘s ship had entered the Arusian atmosphere.  With all of them in their lions, they tried for the first time to form Voltron and failing miserably. 

”Does anyone have any ideas how to form Voltron?”

”I don‘t see a ’combine into giant robot’ button anywhere on my dashboard.”

They tried to destroy the planes from the ground but short of crushing them with their teeth it wasn‘t doing anything.

”We‘ve got to do something.”

Keith was roughly thrown to the side when Hunk ran into him with full force.

”Combine!”

”Hey!!”

”Okay, that didn‘t work.”

”Maybe if we fly in formation we‘ll just combine. Take off on my queue.”

They went flying into the air, positioned right next to each other. They flew for some time, but nothing seemed to happen until...

”I feel something!”

”I do too, It‘s like were all being pulled in the same direction.”  
It was then that they realized that they hadn‘t accomlished anything but were about to be captured by the enemy.

Only when all of them were caught in the tractor beam and were about to lose all hope, did they finally find the right motivation to work as a team. When they had freed themselves, they able to concentrate their will on defeating Sendak and were able to form Voltron in the end. This way they destroyed the ion cannon and Sendak‘s ship.

”Good work Paladins.” Coran and Allura came running out from the castle to greet the five humans after their victory.

”We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I‘m afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions.”  
The team was amused as the Alteans told them that this was only the beginning and much harder battles would await them.

”It‘s not going to be easy to be the Defenders of the Universe.” Coran was playing with his mustache.

”Defenders of the Universe, huh? That‘s got a nice ring to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, if you‘ve got ideas for tags or anything else, let me know it. :)


	2. Trust Issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I guess you already noticed, but Keith is my fav character. And there are two things I love to do to them. The first is to make them suffer and the second is to give them the best abilites and whatever. So if you think how Keith acts is a little over the top. Sorry not sorry ;P
> 
> Nonetheless, have fun with the next chapter. Again, it is pretty much just me writing my thoughts into the canon story line. :))

Keith woke up with a loud gasp. His heart was still beating wildly in his chest and sweat was running down his forehead. Since coming to space his nightmares had taken over the foremost part of his dreams. Before, he would have had more dreams about the lions than nightmares about his past. But no, after coming to space and seeing for himself what the lions were supposed to be, there was no reason to dream about them anymore. The call for help from the blue lion, wasn‘t necessary anymore. So now there was nothing to protect his mind from wandering to all the dark places.

At least now he knew why he had been dreaming about some random colorful flying lions. Well not exactly _why_ but at least _what_ the dreams had been about. Voltron. Like the colorful lions weren‘t symbols for his mind slowly going crazy or scientists creating colored lions, but actually colored robotic lions... in space - saying it like this still sounded like he was going crazy. The unbelievable reality that there is so much more out there opened some new questions about everything.   
Like, had aliens been to Earth? Was that the reason why those scientists were the opinion that he could be something different. Did that mean that people knew about aliens but like with everything Keith hab been left in the dark all those years? No, that couldn‘t be. After all the others were just as confused and weirded out like he was.

Another thing was his knife. The knife his father had left him and he had found in their home. Said it was from his mother. He had nowhere seen anything like it. He could cut so much more with it than a regular knife. And this stone... He unwrapped the bindings around the hilt. It was a purple gem with a strange symbol on it. With his much free time after being booted from the Garrison, he had also invested some into research about its possible origin, but found nothing. But it couldn‘t be alien, could it? That would be ridiculous... Keith let out a small snort. What shit was he thinking about. Only because some alien robot brought them to an alien castle ship after they were attacked by another alien war ship with bad lizardly cat aliens, doesn‘t immediately mean that his mother, who was never around, was an actual alien. No, stupid. Most likely did she have him, seen him, and decided that it wasn‘t worth the trouble. He wrapped the cloth back over the stone, before he was rudely dragged out off his thoughts when the intercom shouted out the princess‘ voice.

”EVERYBODY UP! Zarkon‘s attacking!! The castle is about to be destroyed!”

He threw the blanket away from his body and jumped out from his bed, first grabbing his jacket before running out the door.

”Go, go, go! We need Voltron now! Hurry! We can‘t survive much longer!”

On his way there he ran into Shiro, luckily not literally. He was wondering why the later was already in his paladin suit. There was no way that Shiro just woke up from Allura’s alert, donned his armor and ran here in the same time it took Keith to literally jump out of bed an jog directly to the bridge. Keith was worried about Shiro, they hadn‘t had any time to talk about the past year, and Keith knew how much this could weight on somebody’s mind, especially the effects captivity could have. Trust him, he had years and years of experience with this and trying to overcome the after-effects. But maybe Keith was just overreacting and Shiro just woke up a little earlier and was making himself ready. But a little part of Keith was still nagging in his mind to pay more attention to his (previously and hopefully still) best friend.

Together they entered the bridge to hear Coran yelling something about Allura‘s head. Just seconds later, Pidge and Hunk ran in too. Hunk still in his pajamas and Pidge looking like she hadn‘t slept at all. Her glasses were askew on her face and her hair looked pretty much like a bird‘s nest. Hunk seemed like he was about to fall back to sleep still standing.

”I guess this isn‘t an actual attack.” All of them were looking at the two Alteans either with half closed eyes or a blank expression.

”And it‘s a good thing it wasn‘t because it took you... Coran?”

”Seventy-five degrees. Oh sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer.“

”However long it was, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your bayards? And where is Lonce?”

And speaking of the devil, just then Lance came in, looking refreshed and well-rested. His skin practically glowed.

”Good morning, everybody. What‘s going on?”  
”Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order. We had to run a test on the alarms and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed.”

Who did that princess think she was?! Sure, Keith understood how hard the situation was, but they were still teenagers, from a planet that didn‘t even knew aliens existed and they especially weren‘t soldier trained for war. All of them just came from a space exploration academy.

”Hey! You got to sleep for 10000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I‘ve flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle. That‘s a lot to process in, uh... I don‘t know, what day is today?”

”It‘s the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump day!”

”It‘s a lot to process.” Hunk was saying what each of the humans thought.

”You must understand the stakes of our mission. Over the last ten-thousand years the castle picked up distress signals from the following locations. So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe. Earth is here.” She showed them their planet on a floating three dimensional map, ”An attack on your planet is inevitable. Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you will have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon.”

”The princess is right. Let‘s get to our lions and start training.” Shiro really didn‘t know what a break meant, did he? The past year must really have given him enough insight to really grasp how serious this situation actually was.

”Wait! But I wanna talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship.”

”Ah, negative, Number Five. I have you ranked by height, okay?” Great, Lance will have field day, finally beating Keith with only some centimeters. ”The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow.”

”That‘s right. Now, get to your lion!”

Coran showed them the fasted way to reach their lions from the bridge. They entered elevators that led to a slide which ended on top of their lions. When all of them were in their lions they flew out of the castle. Outside, they realized that, in fact, not all of them had entered their lions. Hunk was still missing even after ten minutes of waiting.

”Should someone go in after him?” Only seconds later, the yellow lion finally left the castle and landed in front of them.

”Hi, guys. Sorry, everybody. Seriously though, can‘t they park these things like, a little closer to the bridge?” With everybody gathered, they started training to form Voltron.

”All right, guys. Let‘s just fly in formation until we‘re totally in sync.”  
From the castle, Allura directed them in how to achieve this, ”Feel the bond with your lion and your fellow pilots until five become one and you form Voltron.”

They soon figured out that five becoming one wasn’t as easy as Allura made it out to be. They had started out full with motivation and excitement but as time went on it diminished as rapidly as water running out from a bottle with a big hole at the bottom.  
Keith didn‘t know how long they were already at it but after calling out about fifty times, he had enough. And apparently the others as well.

”Am I the only one who‘s still pretending to be excited?”

After trying to fly in formation they tried other ways in hope of forming Voltron. Starting with a terrible built cheerleader pyramid. It wasn‘t so terrible that it fell apart, but Hunk trying to form the head was obviously _not_ the way to forming Voltron.

”Hunk, what are you doing?”

”What do you mean?”

”You‘re supposed to be the leg, over there.”

”What? No. No, no, no. I‘m pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head.”  
For someone as clever as Hunk, sometimes he could be really dense. Like _really_ dense. How did he even do that?

”You yelled, ’I‘m a leg!’” Even Lance was exasperated.

”Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things.”

”Shiro‘s the head.” Keith stated, already done with the day.

”All the time?”

Keith felt his eye twitch. Why did they have to discuss this now? They weren‘t even close to forming Voltron and if this continued like this, they would sooner die than, achieve something...

”Let‘s just try it my way for now.”

”Okay, but next time I call head.”

Urgh, just _how_?! How did he do that? How should they form Voltron if some of them hadn‘t even grasped the full scheme of it?!

Now, with the right order, as it should be, they waited on top of each other for something to happen. They closed their eyes and felt for their lions and fellow pilots focusing on their goal to form the mighty warrior. They waited and waited. And waited... and waited. But nothing happened this time as well.

”Is everybody bonding and focusing?”

With everybody‘s mood at a low point, they decided to take a break. But against their thoughts, Allura decided to ’try’ and ’help’ them herself. And that was by shooting lasers at them, trying to ’inspire’ them and creating a battle like situation. But instead of winning and bonding, everybody just panicked and ran away, from each other and the lasers. This was in no form helping them.  
After about an hour or two of dodging lasers the defenses suddenly stopped and the particle barrier shut down. Without questioning why it suddenly stopped the paladins didn‘t loose any time in returning as fast as possible before the lasers could pick back up. At least this should have helped them a little improving their piloting.

They were now sitting or more lying in the lounge, when Coran and Allura came in. Keith felt almost bad as Allura entered the room, beaming thinking that they had been successful. But just almost.

”You did it, you formed Voltron!”

”No, the shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in.” Keith replied monotonous. Those Alteans were just crazy. Why shoot at their allies?! Who in their right mind would do that?!  
Just then Shiro entered from the other side. ”What are you guys doing in here? We‘re not taking a break.”

”Shiro‘s right. You should be training!”

”We‘ve been training. When are we going back to Earth?” Hunk complained.

”I‘m not going back until I find my family!” Pidge had a very serious face at the situation. How much Keith would have liked to give her the support she needed. But he was neither a tech genius like her, nor knowledgeable in anything alien.

”Guys, there won‘t be an Earth, if we don‘t figure out how to fight Zarkon.”

”How are we gonna fight? We can‘t even figure out how to form Voltron.”

”Well, I‘m not surprised. You know, the original paladins fought hundreds of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of yalmors liked at the ears.” Listening to Coran‘s story definitely didn‘t raise their spirits.

”Wow. Yeah, that‘s definitely not us.”

Lance was right. They weren‘t even close to working as a team. Heck, most of them hadn‘t even spoken to each other once, two days ago. And now, this rag-tag group of teenagers was supposed to beat the man and empire ruling over almost the entire universe...?

”During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far. You‘ll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the training deck.”

”There‘s a training deck?”

Apparently, the training deck was just as grande as the rest of the castle. It was a big hall completely empty. Only by the push of a button or a voice command were the exercises executed. It was amazing.

”The paladin code demands you put your team members‘ safety above your own.  
A swarm of drones is about to attack.”

They stood back to back in a circle in the middle of the training deck. On Coran‘s command, numerous balls where released into the room.

”It‘s up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of you team.”

When they started swarming and circling them, Keith summoned the shield that was part of his uniform. Pidge did the same. This was followed by the rest of the Paladins. Before they could even begin to process the situation, the first drone shot at Hunk, who just in the last moment was able to duck. Sadly, the shot he dodged hit Pidge‘s back, making her fall into a hole that appeared on the ground. Hunk, having his eyes still closed after avoiding the hit, was shot himself and doing a header into the next hole that appeared below him.

”Protect your teammates or no one will be there to protect you.”

Now, only Lance, Shiro and Keith remained. With two Paladins already lost to the ground, they moved closer to each other in an attempt to protect the others.  
They raised their shields each time the drones shot them, successfully lasting about one minute until the bickering began.

”You keeping up over there, Keith?”

Lance was trying to rile Keith up again. Keith didn‘t even know why Lance always did this. What good did it do him? Was there anything that made the situation better for him? Or did it lift his mood so much to just insult him? What had Keith done to be on the receiving end of Lance‘s hatred?

”Just concentrate on keeping me save.”

He kept his eyes and ears open. Sure the challenge was to trust your teammates to protect your back, but he just didn‘t have enough trust yet to leave his back to them. Nope, no way for that. Yes, Shiro was one of them, and Shiro was different from the rest. He had learned to trust him. But it has been over one year since he properly talked to him and since coming to the castle Shiro hadn‘t talked to him much at all. Sure, there had been the flying into space, meeting an alien princess, fighting some cat lizards and forming a giant mecha cat, but they still could have talked and sat down at least once, right? Or was Keith just too selfish? Shiro just kept to himself. He hadn‘t opened up to Keith, he more ignored him than anything else. Only for training and trying to form Voltron had he been in the same room.

Keith had learned to trust him. But after Kerberos? It became just really difficult. Shiro was more distant and Keith was still hurt from the news. You don‘t just recover from something like that. The only person who accepted you for who you really are, was ripped from you. Keith had been alone for more than one year, keeping to himself. Supressing all his sadness and losing more hope day after day of finding Shiro, until he finally did. And the surprise that Shiro was alive, was still a shock to him.

And that didn‘t make the situation much better. Heck, he had been alone for one year, only having to rely on his own strength and abilities. He just couldn‘t stop his mindset from one day to the next and start leaning on people he barely knew. They hadn‘t earned his trust yet and until now they weren‘t even one step in the right direction. Lance rivaling wasn‘t helping in the least.

”Me? I own this drill. You‘re the one who needs to concentrate.”

Keith kept in mind every single shot the drones fired and paid attention to where he had to move to protect himself and his teammates. His ears were helping with this. If he were in his shifter form, they would surely rotate like crazy around his head, trying to notice everything going on around him. He was breathing deeply in and out, his muscles were tense and ready, he put all of his concentration on his surroundings, trying to ignore Lance‘s bickering.

While Lance was talking on and on, Keith saw in the corner of his eyes how he didn‘t pay attention to the drones anymore, only trying to anger Keith more and more.

The drones were all moving further down, trying to hit them from under their shields.

This was the point were Lance didn‘t duck, just lifting his leg up, leaving the laser going straight for Keith, just like Hunk to Pidge before.  
And just like he had expected it to happen. His teammates - in this case Lance specifically - weren‘t able to protect him, so Keith had to act himself. He saw the shot heading under Lance‘s leg and let himself roll to the side, doing some kind of one-handed cartwheel and then hauling his shield back to his front before the next shot could hit him. Lance was more stupefied and missed - again -that the drones were still shooting at them, leading to him being out too.  
Now only Keith and Shiro were left on the field.Keith was happy with this arragement. While the relationship between them wasn’t as great as it was before, they still could work together really well. Keith also trusted Shiro enough to protect his back. Like this he was able to give more of his attention to his front and sides. They were fighting back to back until Coran put an end to the exercise.

”Well, that was.... I guess alright...”

The paladins had climbed out of their holes and were now again together in the middle of the training room.

”There still is some room for improvements. Much needed improvement.” Coran muttered the last sentence into his mustache.

”But we still have other drills to get you lot to build a unit.

With that they continued on to the next exercise. Coran had created an invisible maze. Whoever touched the walls would get electrocuted. In was a partner exercise. One would stand in the middle and have to move while the other gave directions.

The first of the humans to go through the maze were Keith and Lance.

Naturally, Lance was absolutely overjoyed to be partnered with Keith (read, he absolutely hated it). Keith himself wasn‘t too happy with the formation, but there was nothing he could do against that. They were a team, and they had to start working with every one in it. Doesn‘t matter who it was or what kind of relationship they had. The universe was bigger than the simple pettiness of one or two members. So Keith tried to make as much as he could from the situation. Trying to built some kind of understanding between the two. If Keith was able to guide Lance through the maze without him being electrocuted, then they at least had no reason to go at each others throats. Right?

But in the end, this hope stayed a dream. Every time Keith tried to lead Lance in one direction, Lance didn‘t listen or just listened to some part of it, leading him into the wall. And even if Lance tried to do what Keith said, he just moved in the wrong direction from where he should go. And now, Keith‘s ear was nearly bleeding with how much Lance complained. _What could he do, when he said he should take two steps straight ahead and Lance went in the other direction!?_

Keith just wanted to let the day end. They had accomplished absolute nothing, except attain a handful of bruises. All of them just didn‘t make a good team. They were all just too different. They had all attended the Garrison, but they didn‘t even have the same level in combat and self-defense. How could they fight a battle against a ten-thousand years old regime with a vicious emperor, if they couldn‘t even work so much together to protect their backs from some simple drones or listen to their teammates directions?!

When every one was finally through once, they changed their positions. Now Keith was standing in the middle of the room, without being able to see the labyrinth‘s walls and Lance was standing in the control room. Keith could already imagine the manic grin Lance must have on his face while rubbing his hands like some show villain.

”You ready Keithy-boy? The great Lancey-Lance will show you how its done!”

Keith just let out a sigh, rolling his eyes under the helmet.

”Suure, let‘s just start.”

”Man, you‘re no fun. Alright! So take three steps forwards.”

Just as Lance had told him, Keith started walking straight ahead. He abruptly stopped midstep after he had done two. All hairs on his body were raised up and warning bells were ringing in his head. He slowly took the step back and took a deep breath.

”Are you sure that I have to take three steps forward?” He asked as calm as possible and with as little annoyance as he could manage.

Lance spluttered, ”Eh-eh, ye-yeah, why did you stop? I said three steps, three! So go on take one more.”

Before, Keith took one more step, he heard voices in his comms. They sounded reprimanding and it was obvious that they belonged to Shiro and Coran. The first response he heard again from Lance was a drawn out ’fine’.

”Alright alright, seems like I misjudges you step width. So from there you have to take four steps to your left.”

Like this they continued on until Keith was out of the labyrinth. But not without being shocked twice but at least it wasn‘t intentionally as Lance had tried to before. But nonetheless, Keith was not amused. Neither about being shocked nor about the fact that his teammate had tried to electrocute him, because said teammate hasn‘t been listening correctly before.

Man, he really detested the feeling of electricity running through his body.


	3. Protect, Connect, Deflect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter :)  
> I have exams right now, so I don‘t know how well I‘ll be able to update the chapters.

The next exercise was to ’see through your lion‘s eyes‘.  _ Like what? How were they supposed to do that? Could they at least get some more information?  
_They were flying above a canyon like landscape. Leith could feel his fur prickling beneath his skin, wanting to go down there and run instead of having to listen to his teammates’ complaining 24/7. When they did as Coran said and turned into a nosedive, their helmet‘s visor turned black, so that none of them could see where they were flying.  
Having taken his sight from him so suddenly, Keith‘s heart skipped a beat and cold sweat broke out on his skin. He was hot and cold at the same time. The darkness and the unawareness of where he was going was eating at his mind turning everything far away. Even Lance‘s taunting wasn‘t registering. His body started to shiver. His ears were only hearing static and phantom screams. 

He was back there. In the cold cell, on the bright table, in the dark closet. All at once. He thought that he could hear manic laughing in the distance. So much that the walls were vibrating and crumbling. Only when warmth washed over him and the vibrating turned into purrs did he slowly come back to himself. He was still seing the darkness in front of him but realized that he wasn’t back there but in his lions cockpit. Before he could do anything, he crashed to the ground sinking into the sand.

* * *

When he had come back to himself and flown back to the castle, Coran was announcing how well they did in this drill -not well at all. Only Shiro was able to see through his lion‘s eyes. Lance had landed not far from him after trying to compete with him. Apparently he had sped up in hopes that Keith would follow, but Keith was too lost in his head at that time to participate. Hunk had pulled back first and Pidge had tried to pull away later only to crash into the rocks that were surrounding them.

After finally having arrived back at the castle and having exited their lions, the Paladins were immediately led again to the trainings room by Coran. He gave them some crown-like devices they had to put on their heads. Keith was inspecting his but didn‘t know what they would do.  _ Maybe, some kind of virtual reality vision?  
_ They again gathered in the middle sitting on the ground in a circle.

”Now the most important part of paladin training is being able to meld you mind and focus on one thing: Voltron.”

Keith‘s eyes widened.  _ What?!  _ _No, no no no, they couldn‘t do that! They had no business roaming around in his head! The stuff he knew he would keep to himself._ Keith clenched his fists, barely restraining his fingers from ripping of the mind mind device.   
He just couldn‘t let them see his past. Everything he had done and had been done to him. What would they think of him? Just another circus animal? An accessiore? Somebody who would help nobody but himself? He couldn’t let them or anyone tramp on him again. They would either pity him or think of him as weak and submissive. Lance would probably make fun of him. Saying something like what a loser he was, always playing strong and acting like nothing would faze him, but in the end being nothing like that. Not strong, not untouchable. Somebody who wasn‘t worthy to pilot one of the Voltron Lions.  
No way in hell would he let them see that.

”Everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron. So, relax and open you mind. No walls, no secrets between Paladins.”

But it seemed like there was no way around the exercise. He just had to shield those particular thoughts. Think positive. Think of good things that have happened.  
Like his shack in the desert, his home, his dad, until...  
_ Ok, no no no no, stop!!! No more thinking about his dad.  
_ Something happy, a happy memory, like the one time Matt and Shiro took him for his first time to the zoo. That was really nice. But would they think that he was childish? ...Maybe... He knew that he shouldn‘t let others judge him, but it still was difficult. Especially if Lance was taking every opportunity he got to make fun of Keith, make him look bad or ridicule him. So something else... Well then, how about the time he spend at the Garrison with Matt and Shiro. That was pretty much some of the best memories he had, the happiest time he could think back to. Shiro gave him a chance to become something great, having a better future and friends he could spend it with. That was something he could share. Until he too disappeared and was announced dead.  
Keith became really frustrated. He was concentrating like crazy but nothing came to mind. Argh, that was way more complicated that he thought. Why did every single memory he possessed, he thought was somehow good, ended in tears and anger!?  
Keith was trying really hard to filter his thoughts, no negativity, no pain, no tears-  
Huh?  
He looked up and saw that Voltron couldn‘t be formed. He looked around the other Paladins and saw that Pidge, just like Keith, had problems with the mind meld. Her image flickered and showed one of the pictures they had made the day of the Kerberos launch. It showed Pidge and Matt. She was still dressed as Katie.  
They tried again after failing the first time. Now the second time they were almost finished until Pidge‘s arm flickered again and Voltron was falling apart.  
Only seconds later, Pidge had enough and threw the headset down on the ground. Obviously nervous and angered about the fact that the others could see into her mind. Even if she excused it as being tired. But Keith could understand. He himself felt frustrated with this exercise. Shiro was convinced and ended it.

 _ Phew, thankfully this was over. _ He internally thanked Pidge for her outburst and that they wouldn‘t continue this exercise. Seems like she was just as against the others sniffing around in her head as him.

”You have been working hard. Maybe it‘s time to relax a little.”

Keith was sipping on the drink Coran had given them, when the Princess came in.  
Keith didn‘t want to do anything anymore, but judging by the princess demeanor, they still had a long list of stuff they had to do today.

”What are you doing lying around? You‘re supposed to be training!”

”Just resting a bit. You know, you can‘t push too hard.”

”What do you mean, ’can‘t push to hard’? Get up you lazy lumps. It‘s time you faced the Gladiator!”

Keith absolutely didn‘t like the tone Allura was using with them. It was just too commanding and forceful. She had no right to talk to them like that. They hadn‘t volunteered to be some kind of space knights! But the tone Allura was using, made him keep quiet and follow her orders. He really hated himself for that.  _ Just why couldn‘t he stand up for himself when he didn‘t want something?! Why was he still letting people push him around?! Why couldn‘t he get out of the mindset his old owner had taught him?!  _ Keith was just so frustrated and angry. Even a little sad but he wouldn‘t show that. He could live with that. He understood why Allura was so strict. Her planet had been destroyed and the man who did this was now reigning over the universe creating chaos where he went. And after they had attained Voltron, he would come after them, so they had to be prepared.

”In order to defeat the Gladiator five paladins must fight as one.”  
  
All of them were standing with their backs to each other in a circle. Battle ready they waited for something to happen. That something was falling down from the ceiling in form of a white golden robot with one glowing eye and a staff in its hand. In hope of hitting the gladiator, Hunk just activited his cannon and shot in its direction. Keith was just able to deflect the shots from hitting him by activating his shield. Hunk in turn was swept from his feet and shocked with the gladiators staff. Pidge was the next one to attempt defeating it, but just got hit from all sides with the staff that in the end send her flying back landing directly on Hunk. Lance tried to shoot at it from a distance. But the gladiator approached him faster and more agile on its legs that Lance could shoot it. The bot hit Lance‘s rifle sending it flying away and opening him up for a direct attack on his head. Before hitting him a second time, the bot turned around to deflect Keith’s attack. Keith was nearly thrown back with the force behind the swing. With one swift movement the gladiator hit Lance middle and tried to throw him into Keith. Before Lance could land on top of him, Keith crouched down on all four evading his fellow paladin, who just flew to the side.  
Instead of attacking Keith again, the gladiator ran straight at Shiro, who had activated his Galra arm, which was now glowing an erie magenta-purple.  
Keith saw exactly what happened. Instead of attacking or defending himself, Shiro just froze. Rooted to the ground he didn‘t move a muscle as the robot was just about to hit him. As fast as he could, Keith pushed himself up from the ground and lept for the gladiator blocking the hit that was directed at Shiro with his sword.  
Without looking back, he tried to get Shiro to snap out of his obvious flashback.

”Shiro, are you okay?!”

The gladiator used his worry for his teammate as cue for his attack. But instead of being the first to attack, Keith had already expected this move and jumped up right before the staff would meet his legs. Keith grabbed the staff and used the gladiators momentum to propel his legs up, catching the bot‘s torso in a lock and twisting them. He ripped the staff from the gladiators hands, spun it around and electrocuted it with its own weapon.  
The room was silent except for Keith‘s erratic breathing and Shiro sharp exhale as he slowly came back to himself.

”That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child! You‘re not even close to working as a team let alone ready to face Zarkon.”  
  
Oh much much Keith would have like to rant about how they weren‘t Alteans and thus not as strong as them. But he was sure that no matter what he said, she wouldn‘t listen. And the sad thing was, that she was also somewhat right. They weren‘t able to fight together and even Keith barely defeated it with his over-human strength. And Shiro was something very different. Didn‘t she see, that he was still struggling from his time in captivity?!

* * *

FInally after all the training that they had done today, they could finally take a break and eat something. He was sure that he had heard Hunk‘s stomach groaning as least three times. He was pretty impressed that the heavier paladin hadn‘t said anything until now.  
But the thing was, no matter how hungry they were, the food wasn‘t very appetizing. 

”Ahoy, young Paladins. I‘ve whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal you‘ll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux.”

They were sitting next to each other, a plate with green goop right in front of them. Even though the food looked like glibber, the others seemed hungry enough to not mind it, grateful to be finally able to eat.

”Smells great, Coran. Thanks.”

With that, they took their sporks and were about to start eating. However, the second they lifted their arms, Coran pressed some kind of control, activating cuffs to appear on their wrists and binding them to each other.

”I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you‘re still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the quintant.”

With as much seriousness as they‘d never seen, Hunk spoke up, ”Coran, I want you to think about what you‘re doing.”

”This one‘s a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!”

But Keith as much as the others argued didn‘t catch anything they said. The moment the cuffs wrapped around his wrists, his world came to an abrupt halt. His vision blackened at the edges, zeroing in on the magnetic cuffs and his ears only heard static. His body stiffened and his breathing picked slighly up. Unfortunately not enough to be recognized by his teammates, or fortunately not by his teammates. He would drown in shame if they were to realize that he was moments before a panic-attack. His mind was racing, trying to find a way out of his memories, a way away from the dark thoughts that were creeping closer and closer. Just as he heard a whip whistle through the air about to slash on pale skin, he was ripped out of his thoughts as he was physically yanked to the side and his hand met green slime.

”Oh, nice. You defiled my food goo.”

With wide blown eyes and still restricted pupils, Keith looked up at the voice that had just shouted at him. The fog of the mild panic-attack was still clouding his mind, so Keith took some time to even register what Lance had just said. Lance was already looking funnily at him, that Keith was just starring and not saying anything. After some more time, he had enough air back in his lungs and found his mouth working again.

”I-It‘s your fault! This is ridiculous.”

Keith would have liked to hit himself at the stutter. But as much as he hated the situation, he was grateful that Lance was able to get his mind back to reality again. He still felt the cold sweat on his forehead and shivers were still running down his back, but at least now the voices of his teammates were back and filling his mind leading it away from darker places.

”Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?” Allura growled from the top of the table.  
But even Shiro had enough of the situation, finally speaking up against the princess. ”Can‘t you just give us a break? Everyone‘s been working really hard today.”

”Yeah! We‘re not some prisoners for you to toy with like a bunch of toy prisoners!” Lance shouted next to Keith.

”You do not yell at the Princess!”

”Oh, the princess of what? We‘re the only ones out here and she‘s no princess of ours.”

Pidge could barely end her sentence before she was attacked by a glob of green goo hitting her right in the face. It was thrown by no other that the princess herself. All of them were looking at her like she had gone crazy. Finally snapping and releasing all the tension of the day, Keith had enough and raised his plate with the goo.

”Go loose, Pidge!” He threw the goo with as much force at the princess. But before it could hit its target, Coran raised a cloth, successfully catching the offending goo and throwing it back on all of the paladins, covering them in green.

”Oh it‘s on now.” There was one time when Hunk would be really serious and that was whenever food was involved. He pushed his head into his plate eating as much as he could and spitting it like a cannon back at the Alteans. Like this, the food war between the Alteans and Humans started. They fought together to dirty their opponents as much as they could.  
In the end the paladins were covered head to toe in green food goo laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. It had been a long time since they had so much fun. All the stress of the day has been forgotten.

”Enough! Do you see what you‘re doing?!” Like this the happy atmosphere was broken and everybody returned to the present, scared of what the Altean Princess would say now.

”You‘re finally working together as one.” She serious demeanor of the princess changed to one of delight.

”Hey, she‘s right!” 

”I actually don‘t hate you right now.” Lance was slightly smiling at Keith.

”You guys thinking what I‘m thinking?” Hunk asked, all his former seriousness forgotten.  
  
”Let‘s go form Voltron!” Shiro shouted.

All of them cheered.

”Actually, I was thinking desert. Bit, yeah! Let‘s do it!” But because of Hunk exclaim, all of them lost their balance and fell back. It was pure luck that none one them broke a bone or dislocated their shoulder with how they were still bound to each other.

They immediately tried again to form Voltron. This time, all of them were out of the castle at the same time, even more motivated and excited than the first.

”Everyone ready to do this?”

”Roger that!” The eyes of the Green Lion lit up.

”It‘s on!” The Blue Lions cockpit was shining blue light down on its pilot.

”Yes, sir!” The Red Lion was getting ready to jump out of the castle.

”I was born ready!” The Yellow Lion lept out of its confines and out into the air.

The Black Lion roared at the energy of all five paladins.

”Then let‘s go!”

And finally, after all the day‘s tiring and strenuous exercises they were finally able to meld their minds, transform their lions and built the giant mecha. The feeling of the bond between them as they merged was even more breathtaking and awe-inspiring than the first time. 

”I told you I could get them to do it. They just needed a common enemy.” Allura and Coran stood in front of the castle watching Voltron flying around.

”It‘s true. Like the old proverb says, ’A man can be driven to do anything, if a beautful woman is just really, really mean to him’.”

* * *

”Man, that was cool! I‘m so charged up, I don‘t think I‘m going to be able to sleep tonight.” Lance plopped onto the couch in the common room.

”Not me. When my head hits the pillow, I‘m gonna be lights out.” Keith sat two seats next to the blue paladin, resting his arms over the back rest.

”I just want you to know that I realized when we were in Voltron we‘re brothers, man.”  
Hunk pulled Keith and Lance closer to his body, squeezing them into a tight hug.

”You know? Like, we‘re totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way. I love you guys.”

”G-forces mess with your head a little bit?” Keith gave a little chuckle.

”Yeah, maybe a little. I don‘t know. It‘s been a tough few day.”

With a great mood all of them left the lounge and headed to bed. On his way to his room, Keith thought about what had happened today and what Hunk had said just now. It was true, it did feel amazing to become one as Voltron. But he was sure that he wasn‘t the only one still with barriers and secrets. But maybe that wouldn‘t have to stay like this. They had done really good today. Keith would have never thought that they could work together and built Voltron. Maybe he was wrong about the group. Maybe they could really do great things. He shouldn‘t have lost hope so soon. As he entered his room, the little smile on his face wavered a little. Maybe he could trust them enough at some point. But he was sure, that this point would still take some time. If they were to strengthen their bond day and day again, he could see fully, trusting them with his past. But not yet. He was content if things stayed like this. He knew that there was always the possibility of the truth destroying everything. Like it did everytime. So, it would have to be like this for some time, and that was alright.

Contrary to what he had said ealier, sleep didn‘t find him immediatelly. The events of the day kept replaying in his head. Of all the flashbacks he had experienced. Why had this day been so bad? Now his smile was fully gone from his face and a frown replaced it. What was wrong with him. The last year in the desert he had been fine. He had even done great progess with processing everything that had happened. Even in the Garrison it hadn‘t been that bad. Why were his memories acting up now of all times? Why now, when they were supposed to fighting a war. Keith wasn‘t a war veteran or somebody who had been forced to fight before, so it shouldn‘t concern him this much. Shiro must have it so much worse and here was Keith pitying himself because of something that happened more than seven years ago, or at least four, if one counted the foster families. But he guessed it was to be expected when he was directly confronted with evil, control freaks, prisoners, kidnappers, murderers and what else. But if he didn‘t want to explain himself to the others he would have to learn to restrain himself and control his memories. Yeah, nothing easier than that. He just had to try harder.  
Luckily, he found sleep sooner that he had expected after his thoughts had been swirling in his mind. His body was exhausted and hurting in the best ways. It felt great to finally relax his muscles and surrender to sleep.


	4. Visitors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, for having taken more than a week for a new chapter. Right now I‘m a bit lagging behind and don‘t know how to integrate my story into cannon...  
> And just two more weeks then all of my exams are over and I will have some more time to write.  
> Also, this one is a bit shorter, sorry.

The next day was pretty much the same as the day before. Allura again was torturing them by training. The only good thing was now that they at least had the basis of having figured out how to form Voltron. On the other hand was it exactly that what led Allura to being even more ruthless than before. She let them fight against the Gladiator so long until they had defeated it wihtout being hit even once. And that took its time. Even with a little more team work than before, the gladiator still was winning easily against them. But with each run, they became better. It became easier to anticipate the movements of the droid. But rome wasn‘t built in one day and so the Paladins too weren‘t master fighters after just one day. They left the training deck covered in sweat and bruises after approximately 4 to 6 hours. Keith had lost his sense of time during training. Allura and Coran were nice enough to give them time to take a short shower, get something to eat and then get out again to train forming Voltron.

”Uhhh, why again?” Lance whined as they left the traning deck, ”We were able to form Voltron yesterday, so why to we have to practice again?”

”Because, just because you formed Voltron once or twice doesn‘t mean you‘ve mastered it. You have to try again and again until you can to it flawlessly and in your sleep.” Allura replied matter of factly.

”Fiine, but only if we have some time after lunch to rest, after all it isn‘t healthy to just exercise after having just eaten.” Hunk nodded along to Lance‘s statement.

”All right, but only half an hour. Time is essential in a war!” With that the Alteans left the Paladins for their short break.

”All right, team. Take a short shower and then we will meet again in the eating room.”

Just like Allura had commanded, the Paladins found themselves half an hour after lunch outside in their lions. The plan was to fight each other in teams. The trio had persuaded Shiro and Allura to make their training a bit more enjoyable. So now, there was the trio against Shiro and Keith. Lance had naturally complained that he couldn‘t wipe the floor with his opponents while being in the smaller team but at the same time, that he was with the weaker pilots. Even if he didn‘t exactly say it like that.

The first ’game’ was a round of tag. They were supposed to fly around the planet and try to catch or evade the others. This exercise was especially beneficial to the to paladins who hadn‘t partaken in the fighter class program.  
Naturally, Shiro and Keith wiped the floor with the others, fully to Lance‘s chagrin. They weren‘t the best pilots in the Garrison for nothing and with the red lion being the fastest, Keith had an obvious advantage. And as expected, Lance said as much. After the teams had switched various times, Allura called them to end their games and get back to trying to form Voltron. Luckily, it worked just as well as the last time. No problems, no hitching, no hesitation. The lions flew in formation and merged to the heroic warrior. 

  
Finally after hours of training they were finally released to do as they‘d like. Lance made the suggestion to have a sleepover in the lounge tonight. And every one of them was excited at the proposal. They were already planning everything before they had taken off their armor. Pidge would look for some movies and video player with the Alteans, while Hunk would prepare the food. The last three were supposed to look for blankets, pillow and other stuff they would need for the evening and night.

Well, at least that was the plan.

”I‘m sorry Paladins, but the castle is still not fully functional. And we don‘t know when the Galra will strike again. Coran and I will have to do more maintenance and won‘t be able to join your little get-together.” Allura told them cautiously with a sad smile on her face. She and Coran had stopped behind the humans who now had turned around at the Alteans declaration.

”It‘s called a sleepover, Princess.” Lance said matter-of-factly. 

”I guess there‘s nothing to be done, after what happened with Sendak we don‘t want any more negative surprises. We just will do it at some other time. What do you guys say?” Shiro had turned towards the younger Paladins to gouge their opinion.

”Yeah, if we do it, our alien members will have to be part of it. So maybe we can do something else?” Pidge, pushed her glasses up her nose while saying that, ”Or we just do what we would have normally done.”

”Oh oh oh, no, then how about a movie night? If you guys are done or want to have a little break, you can join us, and if not, it‘s only about two hours right. Some kind of team bonding.” Lance wiggled with his eye-brows.

”Well, it is an alternative. But we would still need Coran‘s help to assemble whatever we need.” Lance obviously deflated at Shiro‘s words.

”Fiiiine, then not. But we will do it at some other time. And then everyone will be present!”

”Alright, if everything is settled and we do nothing, I will be in my room if anybody needs we.” With that Pidge left the group and headed to her room.

”Same here.” Keith parted from the group and went after Pidge.

When those two were gone, Lance spoke up, ”What‘s with those two? Don‘t want to take part in group activities or what.” He grumbled while trailing after Shiro and Hunk.

”I will see, if I can help Allura and Coran somehow and talk to them about training tomorrow.”

”And I will inspect what we have in the kitchen. An hungry human is an unhappy human, or Altean... Alien?” 

Now that Shiro and Hunk had left to go somewhere specific, Lance stopped in the hallway, looking around him, and jep, everybody had left.

”What the frick guys? Why does nobody wants to do something together?” He deflated as nobody answered his call, ”Well, I guess I‘m on my own then....” As slowly as before, he went the same way Hunk had just gone. Maybe his best friends would need some entertainment while in the kitchen from the great Lancey Lance!

* * *

The next day was the same as the days before. Training, training and training.Well not really. Even if they had to fight an intergalactic war and so on, Allura had realized that her Paladins were not as invested as they should have been. But there was nothing to be done. She shouldn‘t have expected so much in the beginning from creatures who had barely seen anything from the universe aside from their planet. They just didn‘t know how precarious the situation was. Well neither did Allura and Coran, due to having slept for 10000 years, they as well as the humans had no idea how bad everything had become. But as soon as the castle would be ready they would see the magnitude of Zarkon‘s reign.  
So, in the end they did do some flight formations and more training to form Voltron.  
They were done with it around noon. Naturally, Lance began bragging the minute they stepped out of their lions.

”Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile.”

”Yeah, that‘ll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match.” Keith countered as they entered the lounge.

”Hey, I did something cool and you can‘t handle it. I get it.” Lance replied with a smug undertone while crossing his arms in front of himself, looking as self-satisfied as one could.

”Your kick ruined our balance. We fell.” Keith replied monotonous and went to the table to sit down. 

”That falling part was Hunk‘s fault.”

”Hey!” Hunk was already sitting at the table. 

”All right, save your energy for fighting Zarkon.” Shiro sank down in his chair, slumping down.

Just as they had sat down, Coran came in with some plate in his hands.

”How was the Voltron workout?”

”We‘re getting there. Are you and Allura almost done fixing the castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we‘re sitting ducks here on Arus.” Shiro replied to Coran‘s question.

”Just about. In the meantime, to get your mind of those duck seats you‘re worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch.”

Well, authentic? Ancient? Yeah, could be. Good looking, tasting and everything else. Not so much. The food Coran presented to the Paladins looked absolutely disgusting. Keith was pretty sure that the, whatever it was, was somehow still alive and crawling on that plate. It looked like some kind of fat worm-like things. And really now, Hakuna Matata and so on but he was  _ not _ eating this.

”It‘s packed with nutrients!”

”It smells disgusting.” Hunk took a short sniff of the food.

”I know! That‘s how you know it‘s healthy!”

While Hunk explained to Coran, what he could do with all the stuff they found on the planet and in the castle, that was somehow not expired, Keith sat down, Lance right next to him. 

”If you‘ll excuse me, I‘m going back to the kitchen and spice things up.”

Well, that sounded promising. Maybe, he also could cook something for them, that did not look like it just came out of some tentacle monster.

And just like he had hoped, Hunk had made some food and presented everything to the two remaining paladins, inviting them to dig in. Hunk didn‘t have to tell them twice. The food, even though it was 100% alien, looked like it came straight out of a cooking show. Not that he had seen those. And it tasted just as good as it looked. Unfortunately, they didn‘t have the time to finish their meal. When they were halfway through the food, alarms sounded through the castle. Allura swished her hand to the side and a screen appeared over the door, showing... a little alien?

The creature ran, or more like shuffled from rock to rock, trying to hide from the cameras and approached slowly the castle‘s front entrance.

”What is that?!” Maybe Allura and Coran knew that race. But according to Allura‘s answer, neither did they know. Keith narrowed his eyes. They were in space. Five humans, who had never left their planet, except for Shiro, and two Alteans who had been asleep for thousands of years. They sure as hell didn‘t know who could be allied to Zarkon. Backstabbing assholes were everywhere. And it hurt the most from the ones, you would never have assumed they could do that. Those ’cute’ and rather hilarious looking beings were nothing different. So no, he would  _ not _ let his guard down, no matter what the others said or how much they made fun of him for it.

When they exited the castle, the little being hid behind some bushed, having his weapon posed and ready.

So when Allura welcomed it and it jumped out and directed his sword like weapon towards them, Keith stepped forward.

”Wait! He could be dangerous. Drop your weapon!”

”No one takes Klaizap‘s weapon!” _ The nerve of that being! _

”Keith, put that away!”  _ Ehm ,  excuse me? It or he? was the one who still had their weapon angled towards them!  _

”Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies.”

Well then, so on and so forth. The little being introduced themself as Klaizap of the Arusian village over Gazrel Hills.

”I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers. The one the ancients spoke of.”

Alright, so the little guy, Klaizap, came from the Arusian village, who all thought that Voltron was some Lion Goddess? Alright, why not. Better that than them being Zarkon‘s little spies. 

”You have not angered the Lion Goddess. Please, take us to you village so that we may meet our neighbors.” 

”What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?” Keith asked after Allura had asked the Arusian to invite them.

”Part of the paladins‘ mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Arus has been our host for 10000 years. These people deserve our thanks.”

Well, as nice as that sounded, she didn‘t treat them with this kind of respect when they had entered the castle or when they had been training. And wasn‘t she the one who always put them under pressure because they had no time?  _ Well then, princess, lead the way. _ Keith thought slightly bitter.

Klaizap then took them to their village, where a little fest was being held for their arrival. Those Arusians, really were strange. When Allura told them that they did not have to apologize for anything, they tried to commit suicide by jumping into the fire. In the end, they let the little girl do her ... dance? Yeah. 

Just as Keith was about to head somewhere to the edge of the village to not be in the middle of his all, he was jumped on by one of the Arusians who kept hugging his middle.

”Ehh, I don‘t usually hug strangers, but, uh... Man, you are cuddly.”

To say that he was suprised by the deep voice that greeted him, was an understatement, but well, aliens, right.

* * *

After some time of watching his teammates, Allura and the Arusians intermingle, Shiro‘s voice came over the comms, calling for backup. Just then the ground began to rumble and when Keith looked up, he saw a big thing enter the Arusian atmosphere.

”Oh no! We gotta get to our lions!”

After the Arusians ran for cover and Keith pulled Hunk back with them, because ’Not you, Hunk. You‘re coming with us!’, they ran to their lions.

They barely arrived in time, before that monstrosity could harm the black and green paladin anymore.

”Lay down some covering fire, so they can get out of there!” Keith shouted into the comms while shooting at the robot thing.  
While the Blue, Yellow and Red lions attacked from all sides, the Black and Green lions could back up from the ground and join them in the sky.

From there, they all could take a first good look at the thing in front of them. Not even Shiro hab seen anything like it. Now was the time to finally see if their training had done anything for them. The second time they formed Voltron to fight an opponent. As they kept on fighting, they realized that they would need a better plan to defeat the robot than just combine to Voltron. They were losing and that pretty badly. While it had started out good with them having the upper hand, as soon as the monster started using its orb weapon they were at a disadvantage. And well, Lance trying to kick something again and then missing it completely wasn‘t helping. Sure Lance, there is a reason why  _ some  _ people should learn from the past. And he wasn‘t the only one. This fight made it so much clearer where their weaknesses lay. And they had pretty damn many.

”Every time we focus on that orb, we‘re blindsided by the monster and every time we focus on the monster, the orb hit us.” That pretty much summed up their situation, thanks Hunk. After some more being thrown around, Shiro realized that he had fought this monster before and knew a way how to beat it. They had to attack after the monster had thrown the orb three times because after that it had to recharge. And it the meantime, they had to defend themselves. Unfortunaley, their shield couldn‘t hold that much longer, the hits were stronger than they thought. After some back and forth or trying to defend and then attack, they realized that they needed some kind of weapon to defeat the monster. Their lasers weren’t enough. They wouldn‘t come far like this.

Luckly, the Red Lion decided that this was the time to show her pilot a way to defeat it. Red growled in Keith‘s mind and opened up a compartment on the side. Keith pushed his bayard into the slot, turned it an a sword appeared in Voltron‘s right hand with which they sliced the monster and defeated it.

”Wow.” Keith chuckled lightly, ”Thanks, Red.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to thank you all for reading, liking my story and all of your comments. It always makes me really happy to read them 
> 
> Okay, I admit it, this chapter basically only exists because I wanted to make something different from cannon.  
> The next chapter again could take over a week to be completed. I‘m still not fully happy with this one, I think it could have been a bit longer.  
> Hope you like it :)

In the evening, after they had bid farewell to the aliens they had rescued from Sendak‘s ship, they had planned a little ’Thank-you’ and ’Farewell’ party with the Arusians in the castle.

Keith was sitting outside while the party was going on inside. He could hear the laughter and music echoing from where he sat. He should have been inside and socialized with everyone, but that didn’t appeal to him. Being surrounded by his teammates and various, a little dumb if he may say so, creatures in a hall wasn‘t really his thing. And to be honest, occasions like that still kinda scared him. The few minutes he had been inside, had made his skin crawl with the sensation of phantom stares. Although, those could be real ones. Being a Paladin of Voltron had the negative effect of putting the pilots into the spotlight. For people like Lance, Allura or Shiro, that was no problem, but for ones like Keith, who was anti-social to begin with and had bad experiences with this kind of gathering, even if it was for good intentions or an event to show gratefulness, was being in a room full with strangers who had their attention on you, not what he understood as a ’good time’.  
So now, he had left the room to be alone with himself and his thoughts. He was starring into the wooden area in front of the castle. Letting the sounds from inside wash over him and calm him. Ensuring that eveything was fine and he didn‘t need worry. Another reason of not being with the others and ’enjoying’ himself, was the worry that the Galra could attack any second. They didn‘t even knew what had happened to Sendak. Was he dead? Had he perished together with his ship? Was another one of those roboter monsters on their way to annihilate them? Keith knew that sitting outside wouldn’t help at all, but better to have a second reason to not be inside and bonding, right? He shivered lightly when the wind picked up and ruffled his hair. He raised his hand and pushed them through his thick locks to get them somewhat out of his face. But the action was roughly aborted when he caught a wiff of a scent. And he knew that scent. It wasn’t one he was overly familiar with but it was obvious to what it belonged. The wind had carried traces of the same scent as on the Galra ship over to Keith. Immediately alarmed, Keith shot upright from his position and peared further into the forest. But he was pretty sure that he would find nothing. He had only caught a tiny wiff of it. It wasn’t even sure if it really belonged to the Galra or if it just lingered from the battle they had fought before. The ship had fallen on the planet after all, not even far from the castle.

He looked behind him if any of his teammates were close, but he saw no one. He had thought that he had heard Shiro and Pidge somewhere before, but now they were nowhere to be seen nor heard. He debated if he should search one or just take a quick look. No harm done there, right? It wouldn’t be wise to needlessly rile them and their guests up. Maybe, Keith had mistaken the scent for something else.

So he made his decision and lept from the wall he sat upon and landed on his feet below. He started walking towards the forest and when he was out of view from the castle, he shifted to his panther form. His animal nose and ears were much better than his human ones. If he were to find something, he would catch it much earlier and not risk, letting them see him. He started trotting forward on silent paws. Avoiding patches where the moon was shining upon and loose branches were laying on the ground. He soon caught the scent again. This time stronger than before. Whatever he had smelled must have been closer than before.

Not soon later, Keith could hear some quiet chatter. When he finally arrived at the place where the scent was the strongest, he hid below some bushes on a very little slope. But it was deep enough to effectively be hidden from the others’ eyes. Silently, he lifted himself onto his hind legs and peered throught the thin bush. And just as he had guessed it, over a dozen Galra were standing there. Well, less Galra and more sentries, it seemed like there was only one who wasn‘t some robot. So they had survived the crash. But what was their plan now? Keith tried to listen more closely to what they were saying but he could only register, some muttering from the single Galra while that one was typing something on their arm. Wait! If that one survived-

When Keith heard a cracking noise from behind him, he whirled around to face whoever there was. Before he could even react, metall shot forward and closed itself around his torso and neck, squeezing the thin body. Keith had been so deep in thoughts that he hadn‘t registered the being that came closer to him from the side. Shocked, Keith looked in the direction from where the contraption had emerged from, only to see who he had feared he would face. The prospect let his blood run cold. The thing that had wrapped itself around him, slowly moved towards the person, only to attach itself on the Galra Commander as his arm. Laughing loudly, Sendak jumped up and walked right into the middle of the circle of sentries, still holding a struggling Keith in his grasp.

”Well well well, seems like he have a little rat in our middle.”

Keith struggled to get out of the hold. He scratched and clawed on the construction, but even his claws, which could usually cut even the hardest object, could only leave small scratches on the metal. He snarled at Sendak when the later only laughed at Keith‘s attemps to free himself.

”You are quite the beautiful creature.” Sendak‘s face drew closer to Keith‘s while the Galra commander inspected his little catch, ”Maybe Lord Zarkon will allow me keep you after I victoriously handed him over the Voltron lions. Naturally only after I trained you properly.”

Keith glared at the Galra and renewed his struggle. But Sendak kept him far enough away from his body, so that Keith was just swinging uselessly in his grasp.

”What a Quintant! First I conquer those pesky Paladins of Voltron, who will be publicly executed for defying the Empire, the last Alteans will be killed or put in cells to forever rot, the Voltron Lions will be back in my Master’s hands and I will be the new owner of you. What a quintant indeed!”

Before Keith could even react, Sendak had slammed his hand inclusive Keith on the ground, almost knocking Keith out. Keith hit his head on the ground letting everything around him spin.   
Cuffs were attached to his front paws and a muzzle put around his head. When Keith came back to himself, he was already restrained and put in a net, slung over a sentries shoulder.

”So now, you will go into the village and prepare the diversion we have talked about, to let it look like an ambush. The Paladins will have to seperate themselves to help the ’innocent’ villagers. After you‘re done, come back to the castle so that we can lift off. The other half will come with me and Haxus, infiltrating the castle and installing the new crystal.”

While walking, Keith used his chance to listen to Sendak, while the later explained their plan, and act like he was still out cold. It was odd that he had to explain the plan to the sentries. Shouldn‘t they just receive the command per computer or something like that? Or wait, maybe that was why this Galra - Haxus - had been typing like crazy on his armor. Maybe the computer didn‘t work anymore after the crash.

They had arrived at the edge of the village when they stopped again.

”You will now prepare the village, and then get back to the castle. And bring my pet with you!”

With this, half of the army parted and went their seperate ways. Keith was lucky that they were dumb enough to leave him captured like this. This way he could try to free himself and tell the others about Sendak‘s plan. But only if he hurried. Sendak was already on his way to the castle and Keith still trapped. Keith really hoped those cuffs were only standard and not ones that were adjustible in size. Keith shifted back to his human form. And just like he had hoped, the cuffs stayed the way they were and didn‘t change their size with him. He pulled on them and after some wiggling they slipped from his wrists. Luckily, Sendak was dumb enough to only put some on his arms and none on his legs. He pulled his arms as far as they could reach back and swung them forward with as much force as he could, cutting deep into the sentries head, successfully destroying it. Next he ripped the net to shreds, freeing himself. In moments like this, he really was lucky that he had his claws. He was on the other two sentries before they could shoot him. Not even a minute later, he stood victoriously above the three shredded bots. He pulled the muzzle from his head, which now only hung around his chin.

Finally free, he summoned his bayard and jumped into the village below him. Unfortunately, while he had freed himself the other sentries had already gone down and set fire to the village. If he didn‘t want them to destroy even more, he had to act fast. Ducking low, he ran straight for the remaining five soldiers. When he finally found them, he attacked them with his sword and sliced them in halves until they lay destroyed on the ground. Heaving a deep breath, Keith started coughing immediately after inhaling all the smoke around him. Without losing even more breath, he started running towards the edge of the village uphill and towards the castle. Before he could come far, he smelled a familiar scent not far from here. Not missing a beat, Keith changed directions and ran straight for the person the scent belonged to. The Altean Princess stood worrying on top of the cliff, starring down at the burning village.

”Allura!! We have to get back to the castle. It‘s a trap!”

”What?!” Said woman whipped around when she could hear the voice of her Red Paladin.

”The village is a diversion to seperate us and thin the castle‘s defenses!”

Not even stopping to explain the situation to the Altean Princess, Keith just grabbed her arm and pulled her with him towards the castle.

”It‘s Sendak! He wants to take the lions and the castle!”

”How do you know that?”

”Doesn‘t matter, just run! He said something about taking control of the castle. Where are the others?”

”They’re still inside. Lance got hurt and Shiro is staying with him. Hunk and Coran went to a Balmera to get a new crystal after the old one was destroyed.”

”Wait! What?! A crystal? Shit!” With that he accelerated even more trying to get back to the castle as fast as possible.

”Allura, what happens when the Galra have a crystal with them?”

”That wouldn‘t be good. A crystal owned by the Galra could have all sorts of dark magic in it- Wait! You don‘t mean-?!”

”I do. I heard Sendak saying something about a crystal. I guess he has a second one ready after detroying the first.”

”Quiznak! We have to hurry!”

”You don‘t have to tell me twice.”

But when they finally arrived at the castle, they weren‘t fast enough to enter it. Right before them decended a purple particle barrier, cutting them off from everyone inside. 

”We‘re too late. No!” Keith shouted while hitting the barrier.

”They have control of the Castle. They‘re taking Voltron.”

”Is there any other way inside? Can we break through the barrier?” Keith summoned his sword in hopes that this could work, but the princess immediately crushed those hopes.

”No. And with another crystal, they’ll be able to fly the ship. We have to stop them.”

”But how? We can’t even get in there!”

” _Keith, can you hear me?”_ Keith could hear a voice whispering through the comms, and the voice belonged to-

”Pidge! Is that you? Where are you?”

_”I‘m inside the castle. Sendak has taken over and he’s preparing for launch. He‘s got Lance and Shiro.”_

”Pidge, listen. If they‘ve started the launch sequence, then we don‘t have much time before lift off to stop it.” Allura told the Green Paladin.

_”What do I have to do?”_

Allura explained to Pidge what to do, to delay the launch and let them in.

After some waiting and hoping, the barrier finally went down and Keith and Allura stormed in. There were times when Keith had been really worried about Pidge, some sentries must have found her and they had occasionally lost contact to her. But she and the mice did it.

Now they just had to defeat Sendak and his soldiers, nothing easier than that.

Allura and Keith ran inside the castle without losing any seconds, running straight to the bridge where Pidge had said the others and Sendak were. Apparently, she had defeated Sendak‘s second-in-command Haxus, so now there should only be Sendak left as their enemy.

It took quite some time to run through half the Castle but Allura and Keith never once stopped or decreased their pace. Soon, they arrived at the bridge seeing Sendak lift up Pidge by her armor. Keith summoned his sword ready to fight. With Sendak distracted by Pidge in his hand and Keith and Allura right in front of him, Lance was able to shoot Sendak from behind, so that he released Pidge, followed by Shiro, who slammed into Sendak from the side, still with his hands bound behind his back. Unfortunately those two were out after their first try. After Sendak pushed Shiro away from him, Keith used his chance to charge forward hitting Sendak with his sword and kicking him in the stomach. Sadly, Sendak being much bigger and sturdier, got upright again only seconds later, gripping Keith’s sword as the later tried to slash him again and flung the Red Paladin some meters across the room. Pidge after getting up again activated her bayard and shot it to wrap itself around Sendak’s leg. First electrocuting him and then pulling as hard as she could, she brought Sendak to his knees but not to the ground. Keith ran up from behind him and jumped on his back. His bayard was still discarded across the room where Sendak had thrown it. Instead, Keith used his claws to dig into Sendak’s fur and ears. Clinging so deep that he was drawing blood. Sendak screamed and roared, while trying to get the Red paladin off his back, stumbling around the room not being able to successfully grab the human. Keith clung to the armor and fur and wrapped his leg around Sendaks torso while still using the later’s hip bones as foothold. With Sendak swinging around, Keith struggled to stay on his back, digging deeper and deeper with his claws. One lucky swipe and Sendak had grabbed Keith and flung him to the ground in front off him. Seconds later, the Galra commander’s hand decended on Keith’s throat cutting off his air. To help her teammate, Pidge shot her bayard again at the Galra, this time hitting him straight in the face so that he released Keith and stumbled back. Keith used his new found freedom and his chance to push himself with his arms over his head up and hit Sendak as hard he could in the stomach with his feet. Sendak, stumbled some more back until he fell into a circle that soon was his new prison cell thanks to Allura who had activated the barrier now surrounding him. At his loss, Sendak roared and hit the barrier with all his might but it didn’t budge. Keith still lay on the ground trying to catch is breath again. He turned around to make sure Pidge was fine and still standing. She shot him a big grin that he returned.

Finally the fight was over and Allura, Pidge and Keith went over to their injured teammates who lay half unconscious on the ground.

”Lance, are you okay?” Keith knelt down and helped Lance sit up.

”We did it. We are a good team.” Lance replied.

And he was right, both smiling at each other. Keith for the first time had the feeling that they really were on the best way to be a great team. They had successfully defeated Sendak. Now, only Lance and Shiro had to get better and Coran and Hunk had to return with a new crystal.

They were in the med bay where they had put Lance into a cry pod. Allura said that he should only be a day in there and then be as good as new. Well, if that was a good thing who knew. The Lance he had helped after defeating Sendak was quite the nice one. But he shouldn‘t be so mean, should he. Yeah, maybe Lance and him finally had found some equal footing.

”Pidge, we can‘t thank you enough for all you did.” Shiro as well as Allura and Keith turned to the smallest paladin, ”I can‘t help but feel that you‘re meant to be a part of our team, but I understand if you want to leave.”

_Huh? What?! Since when did Pidge want to leave?! They had never even once talked about any of this. Or maybe he had missed much more when he had dissappeared and missed the party...._

”Dad used to tell me how close he was with his crew members. They were like family. Now I understand what he was talking about. I‘m staying with you guys. Let‘s stop Zarkon for all of our families.”

Well, seems like he did have nothing to worry about. And maybe she was right. Maybe they could be something like a family. The first real family he would have in years, aside from Shiro. Yeah, that seemed like a great idea.

”Good, to have you in the team.” Keith smiled a real genuine happy smile.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My exams are finally all over - FREEDOM!!  
> And as celebration a new chapter.

All of them had gathered in the med bay where they were anxiously waiting for Lance to emerge from his pod. He had been in there for a whole day, or quintant as Allura said. Keith had no idea what exactly that was, but guessing by the time that went by, it should be equal with the timespan of a day on Earth.

”I can‘t tell if he looks healthy or not?” All of them except Coran had crowded around the cryo pod, looking at the still sleeping Lance. Okay, that sounded more creepy that it was supposed to be...

”I think he‘s breathing weird.” While Hunk was looking worried at his best friend, Pidge used this opportunity to determine how the effects of the pods were on humans.

”Oh, come on!” Keith had enough of all that waiting. Lance looked fine. Nothing of the prior explosion and the whole ordeal with Sendak was visible. All the little burns and cuts were fully healed.

”Not yet! A few more ticks.” As Keith was about to tap on the surface to finally open the thing, Allura slapped his hand away. Not as rough as she did with Lance usually, but it still counted as a light slap.

”How much better do you think he‘s gonna get in a few more ticks?”

”And what exactly is a tick?” Pidge had changed her focus from Lance to the princess.

”You know, a time slice.” All of then still looked confused at her.

”Like a second?” Shiro answered from further back. He had decided not to stand directly in front of the pod and have the others step on his feet.

”What is a second?” Now it was Allura who looked at them fully confused.

To clear the confusion, Pidge held up a little clock that showed the time and each second that passed, ”Like this.”

Allura scrutinized the little decive, ”I‘m not sure. I think ticks are bigger. Coran, do you have a ticker?”

”Right here, Princess.” Coran showed them a little device that looked more like an egg-watch than a real clock, but it did its purposed and ticked away.

”I think ticks are a little slower.” Now they all crowded around Coran and Pidge who compared the two watches with each other. The cryo pod has been left alone. Even Shiro tried to peak over their heads at their hands.

”I can‘t tell. We have to start them at the same time.”

”Okay. Ready, go!” The clocks started started ticking and all of them were lookcing very closely.

”Yes! I think we‘re winning.” Hunk loudly exclaimed.

”Winning what? The intergalactic time-measuring competition?” Keith looked at him in disbelief.

”Yes.” The answer came as sure as it could be from Hunk.

”You guys having a clock party?” While they had been staring at the clocks, Lance had reemerged from the pods behind and had stumbled over to them.

”Aw, Lance, you just ruined it- Hey, Lance!” When Hunk had realized his misconception of the situation, he enveloped Lance in a big bear hug, that left the Blue Paladin for a short moment without air.

”What happened?” Lance asked when he was finally let down again.

”We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat. Are you able to walk?” Allura proposed.

”Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date?” To say that everyone just rolled their eyes was a big understatement.

”He‘s okay”

”Yep, there he is.”

”Classic.”

* * *

”He‘d be Sendak‘s prisoner right now, if not for Pidge.” Allura finished her explanation to Lance about what had happened. Keith had also heard this side of the story for the first time. After all he was preoccupied with Sendak at that time.

”Well, you wouldn‘t have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn‘t gotten a new crystal.” Pidge cheeks were tinted lightly red at the obvious praise.

”Wow, Thanks, everybody. Sounds like the mice did more than you, though.” This was obviously directed in Keith‘s direction. Yay, the normal Lance was back...

”I punched Sendak!” Why did Lance still think that Keith had done nothing?

”Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off.”

”We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!”

”Nope. Don‘t remember, didn‘t happen.” Why would he say that?! It was obvious he still remembered it! They had one good memory together and he says it didn‘t happen. Just like Keith had said before, injured Lance is much nicer that regular Lance. And here was Keith and thought that they were now on better footing. Seems like Lance just didn‘t want to be friends and prefered this stupid one-sided rivalry.

”But Keith was also the one who figured out that Sendak was the one who laid the trap and he pushed Sendak inside the circle.”

Keith had a light smile on his face because Allura was supporting while Lance just dismissed him. Lance visibly rolled his eyes, but continued on.

”So, what happened to Sendak?”

”He‘s frozen in a cryo-pod. We‘re keeping him here in the castle.”

”Are you sure that‘s a good idea?”  
”He‘s too dangerous to be set free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him.”

”So, what‘s the plan now?”

”We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people.” Hunk interjected. He was absolutely determined to save his new friend.

”Wow! You really are hung up on this lady!“

”No, it‘s not like that. Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home. They‘ve been under his thumb for so long, they don‘t even know what it is to be free. It‘s up to us to set this right. This is what being a paladin of Voltron is all about. It‘s time to man up!”

”Then let‘s get moving. Time to defend the universe.” The team started to disband but Pidge stopped them.

”Wait, I have something to say first. I need to come clean and I‘m afraid this may change the way you will all think about me. Just so there are no more secrets between us anymore, I can‘t ’man up’. I‘m a girl. I mean, I can ’man up’ because that‘s just a figure of speech. I don‘t have to actually be a man to ’man up’. I just have to be tough. -But what I‘m saying-”

”Wha...? You‘re a girl? How?!” Lance, very loudly, interrupted her ranting.

”I‘ve known for some time, but I‘m glad you‘ve shared it with everyone.” Allura was openly smiling at the other female.

”Yeah, I figured.”

”Oh, yeah, me too.”

”Wait, we were supposed to think you were a boy?”

”Pidge, owning who you are is going to make you a better paladin.” Apparently everybody, except Lance, had known that Pidge was a girl.

”It‘s good to get that off my chest. Now, let‘s launch this castle ship!”

”Wait, what? Pidge is a girl and the castle is a ship?! How long have I been out?!” Lance stared disbelieving after them.

While Keith followed the others out, he was lost in his own thoughts. ’No more secrets between them’? ’It‘s good to get that off my chest’. Was is really that liberating to tell the others ones secret? Nope, Keith was pretty sure that he would feel even worse if he was to tell them his secret right now. But in his opinion, it wasn‘t so much of a secret. He just didn‘t want to tell others. And that shouldn‘t be a problem. Everybody has something they don‘t want to share, right? And his past was also none of their business. At least not right now. Lance had proven again that he didn‘t really want to have anything to do with Keith, so one more reason not to tell the others. Maybe he would tell Shiro first. But not yet. While thinking, he hadn‘t realized that his feet had carried him all the way to the bridge, where the others were already standing. Coran and Allura were preparing for launch. Seats in their respective color had appeared around the helm and Keith took his with shining red edges.

When they were finally in space and headed to the Balmera, they assembled again on one side, planning on what to do once they arrived. Well, more like Hunk rambling and the others listening.

”Okay, so, when we get here, what do you think? Do we just roll up and like start blasting? Or do we land and have some kind of public address system, ”Attention, Galras, this is Voltron! Turn yourselves in”?” He looked around gauging his other teammates reactions. When no reply came, he deflated and came to the obvious conclusion.

”No. Blasting, right?”

”Hunk, calm down. And, yes, blasting.” Keith finally answered the big guy.

”It‘s our first big rescue mission. He‘s excited.”

”Excited to see his new girlfriend.” Pidge sat in front of them on the stairs, bowing her body and head back to look upside down at Hunk while saying that.

”She‘s not my girlfriend! She‘s just a rock that I met and I admire very much.” All of them had a very knwoing look on their faces as they watched their Yellow Paladin.

Just then alarms started on the bridge.

”What is it? Are we being attacked?” Shiro shouted to the two Alteans.

”No, it seems to be a distress beacon.” Coran replied while continuing to tap on the control board. ”It‘s coming from a nearby moon. Apparently, a ship has lost power.”

They made their way to the place from where the distress signal had come from all of the Paladins ready for whatever may await them. The Princess decided to tag along while Coran stayed on board. The moon was pretty much completely bare except for some dirt hills, but the sky shined in a mix of deep red and pinks.

There, they met the three rebels.

”You don‘t know how glad we are to see some friendly faces. Most folks don‘t want to get tangled up with anyone who‘s on the run from the Galra.” A lanky purple alien with white hair said. Next to him stood a kinda yellow alien with pink eyes and pigtails. The last one was a little robot with triangles at the side.

”So, you guys are fighting the Galra?”

”Well, I don‘t think Zarkon is exactly quaking in his boot at the three of us, but we do what we can. I‘m Rolo. This is Nyma, and our cyber-unit, Beezer.” Rolo, the purple alien introduced his companions. Pidge had immediately set her eyes on the little robot, inspecting everything she could from the outside. And Lance? Lance naturally was smitten from the first time he set his eyes on the female alien. Keith could see the drool run down his chin. Before he could even process, Lance was at her side flirting his sense of pride away. Keith would have liked to face-palm at his teammate’s behavior. And apparently he wasn‘t the only one who noticed.

”From now on, you won‘t be alone fighting the Galra. You‘ll have the Paladins of Voltron by your side.” Allura tried to introduce them in an awe-inspiring manner, but Rolo was obviously not impressed by the display.

”Okay.”

”I don‘t think they‘ve heard about us.” Shiro said to the as good as no-existing excitement.

”It has been ten thousand years.” Keith mentioned the obvious answer to the fact that they hadn‘t heard of Voltron.

”Voltron? Five robot lions that combine into this big robot... guy?” Lance tried to explain but failed miserable, at least in Keith‘s opinion.  
”Sounds impressive. I‘d love to see it. Or him. Them.”

”Why don‘t we get to work on your ship? I‘m sure we all have places to be.” Hunk intervened further time wasting.

”Sure.”

Rolo explained to them what probably the problem was and Allura graciously offered to help them.

”I‘m sure we can get you back up and running. Give Hunk a list of what you need. Coran can show you where to find it.”

”We‘ll go with you. Don‘t want you to carry all that yourself. Come on, guys.”

Before Keith could even open his mouth, because it was a terrible idea to let unknown people inside the castle just like back on Arus, Hunk beat him to it. Before Rolo could even walk two meters, the yellow paladin stopped him.

”Uh, I don‘t think so. You can just wait out here.” He lightly pushed Rolo back and crossed his arms.

”Hunk, don‘t be rude.” Allura again with her Altean hospitality. Keith was really close to rolling his eyes. He was sure that if she had lived on Earth, she wouldn‘t think so openly. And, this was a time of war. Her happy life from ten thousand years ago was no longer. It was cold and hard, but the truth.

”Yeah, mind your manners. There are ladies present.” Lance ended his sentence with finger guns towards Nyma. Apparently, not everywhere on Earth was hope lost.

”Oh, I‘m sorry, but does anyone remember the last time we let our defenses down? Someone kind of set off a bomb. Remember, Lance? You were almost killed.”

”Oh, yeah.” Lance ducked his head at the reminder. But his reaction was still not the one he should have had. Instead of being on Hunk‘s side, he seemed more dismissive. But at least Shiro saw the truth to Hunk‘s words.

”Hunk’s right. Sorry, but we have to be cautious.”

”Hey, I don‘t take it personally. That‘s how it is out here. You‘ve got to look out for your own. You‘re doing a good job, big man.” He gave Hunk a list of what they needed.

”Yeah, thanks.” But Hunk still seemed to be down. If it was because he wanted to go to Shay right now or because he didn‘t trust these guys, Keith didn‘t know. But he did know that Hunk could like some company right now. Even if Keith wasn‘t the perfect person for this job, but he would try to do his best. Maybe he had better chances of forming a companionship with Hunk than with Lance. After all, Hunk‘s best friend was too preoccupied with flirting right now to support his best friend.

”Hey Hunk, need some help in carrying all that stuff?”

Hunk stopped on his way towards the castle and turned around at the voice that had called him from behind.

”Ye-yeah, sure. Thanks, Keith.”

The Yellow Paladin was visibly perplexed that someone, namely Keith, had offered to help to him, knowing how much the Red Paladin usually wanted to be around the others - as little as possible.

Together they made their way inside the castle. Coran had told them where to find the stuff the three rebels needed. It was supposedly two levels below the hangars. It took some time to find the right room but after some trial and error they managed to find the place where the Alteans had stored all the ship parts. 

”Hey Hunk?”

”Yeah?” Hunk was roaming through a box obtaining some missing parts they still needed, while Keith was staying right behind him.

”So I know why I‘m suspicious of those people. But why are you? Aren‘t you normally like fully trusting in everybody and not thinking that anybody could do something bad?”

”Huh?” Hunk turned around at Keith‘s question. He had picked up everything they needed on the list.

”Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to just assume something about you. It’s just, you appear like somebody who just can’t think something bad about somebody. I’m sorry if I misjudged you.”

”Oh no it’s fine. I guess, I’m like that to others.” Hunk raised his hand and scratched his neck self-concioussly while chuckling lightly, ”But to why I’m suspicious? Well, I just think they’re kind of shady, you know?” Keith lifted an eyebrow at Hunk’s explanation. ”Urgh, yeah I know, normally I wouldn’t think like that but, eh...” Hunk looked around for something that could explain his reasoning. ”You see here, the list they gave us? The stuff they need, should hint that almost all of this area in their shuttle is broken, but according to this list, only some parts are needed. If they would really need those then they should need much more to repair everything, It’s like ...”

”They sabotaged their ship to let it look like they needed help?”

”Yeah, exactly that. But well, that’s just wild thinking on my part, there could be other reasons that don’t insinuate that they are bad guys. Maybe I‘m just in a hurry to get to the Balmera and don‘t want to waste anymore time on people who aren‘t in as grave danger as the Balmerans.”

”I guess you’re right, but it still is a good point you’ve made. Maybe we can bring it up with Shiro or Coran, maybe even Pidge and see what they’ve got to say?”

”Yeah, that sounds like a plan.” They packed everything on a cart Hunk had found and now made their way out again.

”But why do _you_ think they got something to hide?” Hunk asked after some seconds.

”Me? Oh, I‘ve got my reasons.” Keith stopped, trying to think about what else was suspicious and he could tell Hunk, ”But don‘t you think it‘s kind of weird that they had an open distress signal because they crashed? I mean, if I were part of the rebellion, I would not just hail anybody that could come my way. They should have some coded signals and not ones a ten-thousand year old Altean ship could receive. Like this, just any Galra cruiser could pick it up and attack them. Sure, two little flies aren‘t on Zarkon‘s big hit list, but still. And the first thing they said was that they were running from the Galra. Would you really say that to people you don‘t know? After all, we could have been working with the Galra. Even if that is fairely unlikely because, only Galra fight for the Galra, at least from what I grasped.”

”It _is_ kind of weird.” Hunk agreed to Keith‘s explanation.

They continued on in silence until Keith broke it.

”Can you tell me some more about the Balmera? How was it there? Is it really as bad as we expected?”

”Even worse. Coran and I were absolutely shocked about the state the Balmera was in. You know, he said that it was a living being that, ten thousand years ago, was an magnificent creature, but with the control of the Galra, it was obvious that it was slowly dying. They were just mining the crystals without giving anything back. We just can‘t let them continue like that. And the Balmerans? They don‘t even know what it‘s like to be free. Shay told me that she doesn‘t even know what the sky looks like. They had never been free in their whole life. Generation after generation suppressed by the Galra. I mean, can you imagine something like this? It‘s absolutely cruel. How can the Galra treat people like that?”

While Hunk was ranting some more about the horrendous state the Balmera and the Balmerans were in, Keith was stuck in his own thoughts. Hunk‘s story reminded him of something similar. Never having seen the sky? That is indeed cruel. Keith remembered clearly how it was. But at least he knew what the sky looked like and what freedom was supposed to be.

_Day in day out, each and everyone spend under the same white ceiling. Some had little black holes in it, some were made from many tiles and others were in soulless grey concrete. Keith knew them all. Bright light shining into eyes that had been either kept too long in the dark or too long in the light. No real colors surrounding the young boy. No green grass or colorful flowers, just white and gray. Sometimes the medication would have an erie orange or yellow shine, or the pool where he was drowned was blue._

_There were rare days, when he was led to some room along a window. The grey sight of the sky covered in dark clouds still better that anything inside. Keith would look outside and think back to how days had been when his dad had still been around. Happy childhood days spent outside in the sun, on the warmed ground, an endless blue sky stretching above them. Yearning to be there again. Breating in fresh air, letting the wind caress his skin. But he was always being roughly ripped away when a hand descended on his shoulder and pushed forward, resulting in him falling to the floor, told to hurry up and stop daydreaming. Leaving the sight of the little bit of freedom he didn‘t have._

”But all of them were still really friendly. But I guess for people who are never on the receiving end of their captors kindness, showing kindness to their own kind and others is the only way to survive, don‘t you think?”

Just like back then, Keith was pulled out of his thoughts by Hunk‘s voice, still talking.

”Keith?”

”Hmm? Oh yeah.” Keith nodded his head to Hunk‘s question. Much quieter he added, ”At least they weren‘t alone.”

Hunk looked puzzled down at the Red Paladin. Questioning where the sudden mood change had come from. But he didn‘t inquire further. Something Hunk said must have reminded him of something. Shrugging, they walked on in silence.

After some more quiet and Hunk‘s fidgeting, they continue to talk some more as they went throught the empty castle hallways until they finally arrived outside again.

The two of them walked towards where Allura, Shiro and Rolo stood. Right now, Rolo was explaining about how the Galra Empire had control over most of the universe and the few that could escape the captivity were now rebels.

Keith went over the others, trying to listen more closely to what Rolo said.

”Well, I hope there are some parts in here that‘ll fit.” Hunk looked towards the rebel, when no answer from anybody came, he got into more detail to get them finally moving.

”You know, to get yout ship moving.” Hunk repeated.

Keith could clearly see that Hunk wanted to leave here as soon as he could. This Shay must really have made an impact. And judging by what Hunk had said, he had all reason to want to hurry. But maybe even if they were in a hurry, listening could give them an edge in helping them.

”Great! Thanks.” But instead of letting Rolo back to work on his ship, Allura inquired further, asking more about the Empires forces.

”So what can you tell us about Zarkon‘s forces? Where are they concentrated?”

”Well, his command ship sits right in the center of the Empire. He mostly calls his shots from there and has his minions do the work, depending on who‘s closest. This is the territory of a real nasty bugger named Sendak.”

Keith narrowed his eyes at the name, remembering everything that guy had done to them when they had been on Arus. ”Oh, we‘ve met.” Keith still could feel the little bumb on his head where he had hit the ground from when Sendak had tried to knock him out.

”How far are we from the center?” Shiro implored.

”We‘re way out on the fringes.” Hunk finally had enough from the whole questioning.

”Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I think you guys are kinda keeping Rolo from working. It‘s just that we‘re kind of in a hurry. A hero named Shay saved my life and I swore I would return to do the same for her and her people. You understand.”

”Sure, sorry.” Rolo finally got up, put his hands on Hunk‘s shoulder while he apologized and went over to the stuff Keith and Hunk had brought.

While Rolo went over to the stuff, Shiro approached Hunk.

”Hunk, we‘re gonna get going soon but I think Rolo might have information that could be helpful to us.”

”Not for nothing, but I don‘t trust this guy as far as I can throw him. I think we ought to leave him with parts and just say, ”Adios, amigo”. You see Keith and I-” He was interrupted by Rolo before he could explain to Shiro what kind of misgivings they had about those rebels.

”Hey bud! Sorry, but do you think you could hunt down a length of thermal pipe about yay long?”

Hunk sighed followed by a quiet groan, ”On the way.” 


	7. Chapter 7

When Hunk left them to go back inside the castle to get whatever Rolo had asked for, Shiro approached Rolo again, Keith and Allura right behind him.

”So, are there more freedom fighter? Any kind of organized resistance to the Galra?”

”Only folks who haven‘t been colonized yet, or the lucky few, like us who managed to escape somehow.” Rolo explained.

”Well, we‘re gonna change all that.” Keith said, but Rolo still had an expression of disbelief on his face.

”That‘s good to hear, but I‘ve got to warm you, it‘s pretty bad out there. You don‘t know what you‘re up against.”

While Rolo was explaining some more about the Empires structure and the situation out in the universe, Keith saw Lance pulling the girl, Nyma, towards the castle ship. He debated if it was worth it to go after them or stay here and listen more to Rolo‘s stories. Even if Keith didn’t fully trust them, Shiro was right, they could have some essential information that could help them in fighting Zarkon, well as long as that information was true.But so far, everything he said made sense. After some time of having this nagging thought in his head, he decided to go after Lance to make sure that he wasn‘t doing something dumb. 

He found the two of them on their way to the bridge. Only some meters in front of the door did he stop them.

”Lance? Where are you going?” At his name being called the Blue Paladin turned around, obviously annoyed that Keith interrupted him.

”Oh, I‘m just going through the castle, showing the Lady were we live.” Lance turned around and made finger guns at Nyma and winked at her.

”I thought we talked about this. No more strangers inside the castle. You know what happened last time.” Keith really didn‘t want to argue about this, but maybe his tone had been a little too rough for Lance‘s liking. Don‘t fault him, he was absolutely terrible with human interactions, you know, one year in the desert and so.

”Don‘t be such a killjoy, Keith. I‘m a big guy, I can protect us if something were to happen again.”

”But I actually meant, that-”

”Doesn’t really matter what you meant. Go back to the others and let us be.” Lance made shooing motions with his hands. He was about to turn back around but aborted the movement facing Keith again.

”Oh, ohhh I see. You’re jealous.” He finally exclaimed.

”Jealous? Jealous of what? Your everlasting trust in any and everything that‘s gonna get you killed some day? Ehm no.” Keith replied monotonous with a straight face and lightly furrowed brows.

”Eh, no!! Of me getting some girl, while you end up with empty hands.” Lance screeched. 

”Lance that‘s-”

”Ahh ah ah, zip it Keith!” Lance pulled his fingers across his mouth, ”I don‘t want to hear your petty excuses. So now, If you‘ll excuse me, I‘ve got something to do.” With that Lance turned around, held his arm out to Nyma who took it and walked towards the door.

”Don‘t do something that could endanger-” Keith cut off when the door swished closed, leaving him alone in the now empty hallway. He growled lightly at Lance‘s obliviousness. Turning around he kept on grumbling about what an idiot Lance was, not even trying to listen to him somehow, while he marched out of the castle.

He was so lost in thought that he didn‘t realize his soured expression was still very obviously on his face when he left the castle.

”What camel spit in your pudding?”

”I- what?” Keith turned towards the person the voice belonged to. Pidge was sitting to the side swinging her legs on two boxes that were stacked on top of each other. 

”That doesn‘t even make sense.” Pidge just shrugged and looked at him expectant and soon  raised her eyebrow at him for not answering her question. Shoving his confusion to the side, Keith answered her.

”Oh, nothing. It‘s just Lance.”

”What about Lance?” Shiro came from the side and joined the two smallest paladins.

”It‘s just him being an idiot. He took that Nyma girl inside the castle, even though we had established that nobody we don‘t know should go in there. But he just ignored me when I tried to reason with him.”

”Don‘t worry, I bet Lance isn‘t dumb enough to let her near anything important.”

Not even two seconds later a loud boom was heard above directly followed by the Blue Lion zooming away over their heads.

”Important, like the lions, you mean?”

”Or maybe he is dumb enough...” 

Keith just raised his eyebrow at their leader while having an ’are you serious’ expression on his face. Shiro just scratched his neck and chuckled nervously.

* * *

Having enough of ... well pretty much everything, Keith went over to watch Rolo while he worked. Maybe he could talk some more. The more knowledgeable they were the better, right? 

Rolo for his part kept on working and talking when Keith stood right beside him. Keith tried to watch Rolo and find out how he was repairing the ship. After all those alien ships were vastly different from earth ones. And if he wanted to be a good pilot he should know how they worked. Not that he could ever figure out how exactly the lions worked, that was, well... let‘s say it‘s just a big amount of magic. 

After some time, Rolo suddenly stood up from the place he was currently working on.

”I think this thing is just about ready for a test flight. Beezer, come co-pilot for me. Be back in a tick!”

With that Rolo and Beezer entered their ship and closed the doors. Not even five seconds later, the ship lifted without problems from the ground, blowing dirt and other stuff laying around in their faces and flew off. Leaving the remaining four Paladins and two Alteans literally in the dust.  
When they couldn‘t see the ship anymore, Keith‘s bad feeling got even worse. He turned around to face Hunk and he as well had a worried frown on his face. Giving them the benefit of the doubt because Lance and Nyma weren‘t back and Rolo surely wouldn‘t fly without her, they went over to their stuff and sat down, waiting. And waiting. And waiting...

”How many ticks have they been gone?” Pidge asked after a while.

”I don‘t know. I hope they didn‘t break down again.” Allura replied.

”Something ain‘t right.” Hunk mumbled from the side and Keith was thinking just like him. Something must have happened. But what? What had they planned? They surely wouldn‘t have broken down, would they? They could have also just stayed where the Paladins could still have seen them, but they didn‘t.

_ ”Guys! Hello? Little help?” _ Just then Lance‘s voice sounded over the comms. Finally something that could give them a hint as to where the others had disappeared to. They pulled on their helmets to hear the Blue Paladin better. Shiro was the first one to reply.

”Lance? Lance! Are you all right? What‘s going on?”

_ ”Well, I‘m kind of chained to a tree.” _ He replied slowly and hesitatingly. And he had all reasons to be with his answer. 

If Keith hadn‘t held so good control over his body, his chin sure as heck would have been on the floor. Because  _ what?! _ Please don‘t tell him what he just thought he heard from Lance. After everything Lance had said and Keith and Hunk had warned him about, he still ended up in that situation?!

”I knew it!” Even Hunk was his opinion.

_ ”And I think Nyma and Rolo just stole the Blue Lion.” _

He  _ thinks _ they stole the Blue Lion?!! What the heck, Lance!? Keith had rolled his hands into fists which were now shaking by his side. If he had even an ounce less self-control he would be shouting and yelling into the comms what an idiot Lance was. But he tried to keep calm. He closed his eyes and breathed deep in and let a long sigh out. Let Hunk tell them how he had warned them that something wasn‘t right. 

”I knew it!”

”Where are they?” Shiro inquired.

_”Uh space?” _

_ Weeelll done Lance, not only have you lost the blue lion but they were already gone and you don‘t even know where they went? Calm. Calm down Keith. _

”Uh, I never trusted those guys right from the beginning. I mean at first, it was a feeling in my gut but when I was replacing that pipe, the pipe was cracked, but none of the hardware around it damaged.” Hunk started ranting to them on their way to their lions.

”Okay, we get it!” Pidge was shouting in the comms.

”And if the thermal pipe is cracked then, obviously, hello the entire assembly should be totally roasted.”

”Okay! We get it.” This time Shiro was telling Hunk off.

”We should‘ve had to replace the entire undercarriage of the reactor. So, right then, I was, like, positive. Foul play.”

”Okay, we get it!” This time Shiro and Pidge yelled into the comms.

”Why? I think we should let Hunk ramble some more. After all, nobody listened to him when he tried to reason with you about his doubts.” Keith intervened.

”But he never even tried to-” Shiro started but Keith cut him off.

”Ah ah Shiro, Hunk tried to tell you that he didn‘t trust those guys. And Lance especially wasn‘t listening. But doesn‘t matter, Hunk was right about his opinion and he has the right to make it known. Even if it is a little much right now... But we have a lion to save.”

”You‘re right. Let‘s get Blue and Lance back and later you can tell us off of how we haven‘t listened to anything you guys said.” A joined ’yes’ was the response.

They flew after the shuttle. After some seconds it had appeared on their radar as a little orange dot. They flew as fast as they could as a group after the rebels and tried to catch up to them. But before they could do that, it entered an asteroid field and the lions had to stop before it. 

”We‘ll never get through this asteroid field!”

”Maybe I can just bust through.” Yes the action was as bad as the idea. At contact they started to drift off and hit themselves making it even more complicated to fly through.

”Nope. That was wrong. That was a bad idea.” Hunk shouted as he flew back to the others before a stray rock could hit him.

”Keith, you‘re the only one who could possibly fly through this. We need you, buddy. Get in there and flush him out.” Pidge and Hunk were too inexperienced with flying and Shiro‘s lion was probably too big to effortlessly fly through. That left Keith and Red. 

”You got it. See you on the other side.”

With a big smirk on his face he pushed his controls forwards making his Lion fly at full speed inside the field. It was just as the first time he had meet Shiro. The flying and dodging already in his instincts. Flying was just so natural. He really loved this. And the challenge the rebels presented them with, Keith was thriving in the task.

He jumped from rock to rock, running on the surface and evading the collisions right before happening. When he was right above the rebel‘s ship, the blasters started firing at him. He swerved to the side, just about evading them and using the asteroids as shield. Having found the right angle and a free path, Keith shot his own laser from the lion‘s mouth. He was gaining on them and only meters seperated him from finally catching those guys, when they suddenly turned, letting Keith almost fly against a giant rock. In the last second, Keith pulled the levers back, blasting his jets below him to avoid colliding with it. He pushed them forward again and summoned his jaw blade. Appearing on top of the rock, he threw it right in their direction, successfully cutting off their blasters. Before they could get out of there, Keith shot at them a last time hitting it right in the thrusters, making them spin through space. With a last push forwards, Keith flew his lion right on top of their shuttle and extended his lion‘s claws letting them dig inside the metal and stopping it. When the shuttle had finally come to a standstill, the other three lions appeared and surrounded it.

”Yeah!” Keith cheered after the triumphant chase. ”Hey, Lance, I got your Lion back.”

_ ”Thank you, Keith. Now, can you come and unchain me? _

”What‘s that? I, u... You‘re cutting out- I can‘t... I can‘t hear you.”

_ ”Oh come on! I thought we bonded. Keith? Buddy? My man?” _

But Keith didn‘t hear the rest anymore. He had shut off the comms connecting him to Lance. Now only the rest of the four Paladins could hear him.

”So Keith, could you go and pick Lance up?” Shiro asked when he had his lion docked on the rebel ship.

”No, why? I think he can stay there for a little longer. No need to hurry.” Keith snickered and was joined by Pidge.

”Now now, I think he has learned his lesson. We don‘t know what else could happen to him while he is still bound.“

”Nah, I think he has learned absolutely nothing. After all, almost dying should have taught him before, but he didn‘t listen.”

”Go and help him a little out! He could need the help right now.”

”I‘ve already helped him by getting his lion back. So why should I go there and help him out?”

”Don‘t you want to tell him how wrong he was and how right you were? And you can see him bound to a tree.” Pidge asked.

”No thank you, I don‘t want to see him so pathetic. To be true, If the Blue Lion wasn‘t so important and the universe needed all five lions and Paladins, I would have said that Lance could have gotten his lion back on his own.”

”Now Keith, that‘s really cold of you and not how a team should work.”

”A team? Not how a team should work? Did you seriously just say that, Shiro? Yes, a real team is supposed to support each other, to help each other out when they‘re in need and any time else.  _ And _ a team is supposed to _listen_ to each other! Did you listen, no. Did Lance listen? No. We told him over three times to be careful and not let strangers inside. I even went after him to remind him not to do anything stupid. But he blew me off. Ignored me in favor of entertaining the ones that now stole the Blue Lion!”

”Are you jealous, Keith?” Shiro asked after Keith was done ranting. Silence had taken over the comms after Shiro‘s question. Keith was almost vibrating in his seat from anger.

As calm as he could, he replied, ”Did you seriously just ask me if I was jealous?”

At the calm tone Keith used, Shiro didn‘t dare reply and Keith didn‘t give him much of a chance to.

”Why would you think I‘m jealous? I‘m furious about this team! How can we be so freaking oblivious to our entire surroundings!? And about that Lance doesn‘t even seems to take me or anything that isn‘t female seriously! I‘m neither jealous of Lance nor am I jealous of Nyma! I‘m just pissed, alright! If we continue to go on like this, we won‘t even be able to fight Zarkon, cause something will come in-between and either steal the lions or kill us!” Keith was almost heaving with how much he ranted, ”So don‘t come from the side, saying shit like I‘m envious and want to have some attention, cause I. Don‘t!” With that Keith shut off the comms and flew back to the castle. His good mood from the exhilarating flight through the asteroid field gone.

”Good job there, Shiro.” Pidge said after Keith was gone.

”Yeah, why did you say that?” Hunk joined in.

”But I- I-. I don‘t know.” Shiro just groaned, why had he said that? It was just so unfitting. He thought a little friendly banter wouldn‘t make him angry like that, but it was Keith they were talking about after all. He had always taken the stuff others said too seriously. Shiro was such an idiot. He banged his head against his headrest. Great the happy mood after their little victory had vanished.

”Can one of you go and get Lance? I think I‘m about to have a headache.” Shiro closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

”Sure, team-leader.” Hunk saluted and shut off the video feed, same as Pidge. In the quiet of the lions, they each seperately returned to the castle.

Shiro for his part hauled the broken shuttle back to the planet they had left Allura and Coran on.

* * *

When he arrived back in the castle, instead of leaving his lion, Keith just sunk down in his chair and let out a very long groan. While flying back he had laid his helmet to the side. This way he was able to continuously rub his hands through his hair and finally down his face trying to hide from the world.

”I really blew up there, didn‘t I?”

Red just let out an amused growl. Keith just groaned again at his lions reply. It seems like Red just found it entertaining how much Keith struggled with interacting with his team. 

”Why did I even say that? I don‘t think this team is terrible. For beginners like we are, we are pretty good actually. And we‘re slowly starting to come together and create a bond between us. But no, my big mouth and my stupid non-social brain has to interfere and insult the others. Good job, Keith.” He closed his eyes and tried to think about what he should do now. Go there and apologize? Ignore them until they have forgotten this incident? Hope that all of them didn‘t mean what they‘ve done and said? Maybe all of them needed some time to cool down and think about everything, especially Keith, and then have a little discussion where they would apologize. Yeah, maybe they needed some time. Or he could just ignore the problem.

Red let out an warning growl.

”All right, all right, no ignoring, I get it. Sorry.” Keith let out a sigh, ”But how, am I supposed to apologize. To who should I alpologize? Lance? No, not really, he didn‘t hear what I said. And he kind of deserved what happened. Pidge and Hunk? Maybe he could go seperately to them and tell them that he did think that they were good team mates . Shiro. Yeah, to him, he would have to go first. But if possible alone. He had blown up mostly in Shiro’s face. And it was absolutely not justified how Keith had treated him. Keith hadn‘t made enough effort to tell Shiro about his doubts, so Shiro had no fault in this whole predictament.Maybe they could talk some more after that. He still hadn‘t talked to him about what happened with the Galra. Or maybe he just hadn‘t talked about that with Keith. It could very well be that Shiro wasn‘t comfortable with telling Keith about his past. After all, Keith didn‘t talk about that to him either.

* * *

Shiro had savely brought the two rebels back to camp. After some time all of the others appeared as well.

In the end, each of them didn‘t look very happy when they assembled outside again. Keith was still not looking at Shiro or Lance, Hunk was a little annoyed because all this had taken longer that he would have liked and Lance stood to the side, looking a little embarrassed. 

”Since your ship really doesn‘t work now, you‘ll have to wait here for a rescue.” Keith said to the three, now on their stuff sitting rebels. At least all of them looked kind of apologetic and sorry for their actions.

”Thanks for sparing our lives.”Rolo thanked them.

”Now that these guys are dealt with let‘s get to the Balmera and save Shay and her family.” Hunk shouted into the round, he was almost vibrating with how much he wanted to leave this rock.

”You may not believe this but I hope you do stop Zarkon. It‘s a lifetime of fighting the Galra that led me to where I am today.”

Keith‘s angry expression fell at his words. Even if he had been lying, those words still held truth. He believed that fighting a life long against an evil you just couldn‘t overcome on your own, he would also grab to more severe measures. Those words reminded him of what kind of lives all of them had. The humans had grown up only knowing the evil on their planet. But someone who was exposed to a tyrant who had conquered almost the entire galaxy had a whole different life. Those guys had a reason for why they were doing this. It was still wrong. But who was Keith to judge their actions. Maybe as a paladin, but as a human, a fellow being? No, he knew just as good, how a life shaped the person who‘s living it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry If Keith seemed kinda cold in the scene with the Blue Lion...  
> But sometimes it feels like you just have to let all of your feelings out, right


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I really need some action in my work, but its gonna be some more until I can put these chapters here.

Keith sat on his bed thinking about how he could start the conversation with his teammates. Contrary to Shiro’s former offer, he didn’t stay with them after they had reentered the castle but went straight to his room. Lance would say that he was brooding and being a normal emo. And maybe he was, but he was also thinking about how he could apologize. He hadn’t had an idea before in Red and now he didn‘t either. What would be the best way... Maybe he should just jump in the cold water and say what would come to mind. But knowing himself he would only worsen the situation.

However, instead of finally getting up and get it behind him, a knock sounded on his door, followed by Shiro‘s voice.

”Hey, Keith? You in here?”

Keith‘s back snapped up straight. Inside he was panicking. What should he do?! No wait. Maybe that was exactly what he needed. Taking a deep breath, he went over to the door and opened it.

”H-hey, Shiro.” Keith cringed inwardly. What kind of greeting was that?!

Shiro rubbed his neck and didn‘t look directly at Keith, ”Hey, can we talk?”

Keith tried not to panic. He absolutely didn‘t like this. Even if it was Shiro. The way he stood in the doorway, blocking his exit and hindering the door from closing let Keith‘s skin prickle with apprehension. He took a careful step back and reminded himself of the situation he was in. Shiro didn‘t want to hurt him. He wouldn‘t yell at Keith, he never did. Not even when he stole his car or got into a fight. Shiro just wasn‘t like that.  
And Keith especially wasn‘t  _ there _ right now. He was in space, fighting against purple cat lizards with a flying mechanical lion. Red‘s calming purr in his mind was the last thing he had needed to finally fully calm down. 

Keith looked back up at Shiro and froze at the clear worry he saw in his storm grey eyes. Keith really had to control himself better. On Earth he had some bad moments that Shiro saw, but it had gotten quite a lot worse in space, Keith really hoped Shiro wouldn‘t ask. Or maybe it would be better if he asked. Keith himself didn‘t know any more if he just wanted to tell somebody or take his past with him to the grave.

”Yeah, sure, come in.” He turned back towards his bed but didn‘t sit down, ”Actually I also wanted to talk to you.”

Shiro slowly entered the room; apparently Keith looked much worse than he thought just now. Like a wild animal that could jump him or run any second. And maybe that wasn‘t too far from the truth.

”Oh, ok, uhmm, I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. I didn‘t really mean-”

”Huh?” Shiro broke off his apology at Keith‘s confused expression.

”Why are you apologizing? I‘m the one who should be sorry. I yelled at you completely unjustified and I called us a bad team what we‘re absolutely not are. I mean we‘re not the best but for beginners such as us, we‘re quite alright-”

”Woah woah woah, calm down Keith.” Shiro stopped his friend before he could ramble even more, ”Yeah, maybe you didn‘t have to yell, but I get it.”

”You do? Wait, what do you get?” Keith was absolutely confused now. What were they talking about exactly? Somewhere in his rambling he must have lost their main topic.

”About the team. You were right in saying that we weren‘t the best team. Or more like, we weren‘t acting like a team is supposed to be. If one of us has some concerns the other should listen. And that we didn‘t do.”

”No, Shiro. I was wrong. I never really gave you the opportunity to listen. We only said something once or twice but never fully told you our concerns. Maybe except for Hunk. We should have done more on our part and not just put the fault on you guys.” Keith explained, ”Except Lance. He  _ is  _ at fault here.” Keith added with a light pout. Shiro just laughed.

”Yeah, maybe he is. At least you can hold it now over his head that he had been chained to a tree.”

”Yeah, maybe I‘m gonna do that.” Keith shrugged. ”So we‘re good now?”

”We were never bad.” Shiro smiled a soft smile and ruffled Keith‘s hair in a teasing manner.

”Hey!” He complained but also sported a matching smile. ”But just so that we‘re clear. I‘m not jealous.”

Shiro just groaned, ”Urgh, yeah, sorry for that too. It was just a little joke that I took too far. Forgive me?” Shiro looked at him with puppy eyes.

”Already did.” Now it was Keith‘s turn to smile at him.

”Great. So what now? Lunch is just about ready.”

”Now, I have to go to Hunk and Pidge to apologize.” Keith slumped a little at the impending task.

”Want me to accompany you?” Shiro asked while rubbing Keith‘s back.

”Yes, but no, I‘ll do that on my own. But thanks for the offer.”

”Always, buddy.”

* * *

And being the good friends they are, Pidge and Hunk immediately told Keith that there was absolutely nothing he had to apologize to them about. Hunk picked Keith up in a big hug and thanked him instead for supporting him back then. And if Keith became a puddle in Hunk‘s arms he would never tell anybody. He immediately missed the warmth and pressure as soon as Hunk unwrapped his arms from Keith‘s body. But he didn‘t say anything. 

* * *

They had finally arrived at the Balmera.  
Because it was a living being and the Paladins couldn‘t just fly in there and start shooting, the plan was to draw the Galra to the surface by attacking their station on the surface. Pidge would fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts to see how many soldiers were still in the tunnel and how the tunnels looked like from the inside. Apparently, she had modified Green with the invisible cloaking technique from the training maze. She really had to do that to the other Lions as well. They‘d have much more of an advantage this way.  
Shiro would take out the power generator, while Lance, Hunk and Keith would take out the big mining rigs around the area.

The plan was successful so far, they had destroyed all the big stations around the surface and access to the full tunnel systems underground. The only thing was that the Galra didn’t come to the surface. All the troops and fighters stayed in their hangars and tunnels.  
They‘d have to make another plan. And that consisted of having to go down, which they had wanted to avoid. But there was nothing they could do about this if they wanted to free the Balmerans.

So, Hunk would head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans, while Pidge and Shiro would track down the Galra soldiers.

Keith and Lance went to the hanger in hopes of somehow preventing the fighters from starting.

When they arrived down at the hangers, they saw hundreds of fighter jets below them, ready to launch any second.

Lance had the fantastic idea to sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors, so that the ships would be trapped inside. And that was actually a good idea. Much better than just trying to attack the few sentries like Keith had planned to do.

In the end, the only problem was that Lance had no idea how to close the gates. His wild tipping on the console didn‘t to anything.  
They had went over the catwalk above the room and sneaked towards the control room. Lance had tried to direct Keith in how and where to cut, but  _ Lance, just let me do, I know what I‘m doing! _ If it had went like Lance had said, they would have landed next to the Sentry instead of landing right on top of it and crushing it below them.

While Lance was trying to close the gates, Keith kept look-out to any approaching guards, and like said before, Lance had no idea what he was doing.

”It‘s all Galra gibberish!” 

Keith left his post to assist Lance in whatever he was doing. But after taking a first look, Keith didn‘t know where to start as well. That was until his eyes fell on something that could be a hand sensor. Because nothing had worked so far, Keith tried his luck and laid his hand on it. Expecting it to start alerting every guard to their presence, he was surprised when it did exactly what he hoped it would do.

”Woah! How did you do that?”

”I just put my hand on the handprint.”

Speaking it out loud sounded more ridiculous that he had expected. Why did a Galra sensor react to his hand? He stared down at the appendage. Maybe the sensor was just malfunctioning, or the Galra were dumb enough to think that no one ever got this far to think about limiting it to their race only. But that didn‘t seem likely. However, he had no time to further question something that happened as Allura‘s and Shiro‘s voice sounded over their comms.

_ ”Paladin, are you there? The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels.” _

_ ”They’re drawing us in into an ambush, but we don’t have a choice, if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Lance, Keith, get to the core. I think we‘re gonna need everyone together to get through this firefight.” _

”Copy, that. We‘re on our way.” Lance replied for them. Keith slashed the console as they ran, outside, Lance shot the door opener. This way they could not let the fighters launch. 

Back in their speeders, they drove towards the center. Keith questioned why all of them went there, when it was so obviously a trap, but he trusted Shiro to have more knowledge about situation like this. Separating right now, was probably just as bad. 

Unfortunately, the tunnels soon became to small to fit through them with their speeders. They had to continue on foot. With good team work, Lance and Keith were able to destroy the sentries that stood in their way. Because Lance couldn‘t shoot them without hurting the Balmera, Keith sneaked to them from above and sliced all of them in halves while Lance distracted them.

Soon all of them had arrived at the core. There, they got a look at Hunk‘s friends Shay for the first time. 

But instead of there being an ambush with all of the Galra soldiers like they had expected, they were the only ones inside. And it soon became apparent why that was. All doors around them closed, keeping them trapped inside.

”The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera. They set this trap just for you. I was the bait.” Shay explained after she had removed the muzzle like thing around her head. 

They contemplated how to get again and while they were trapped underground, the castle was attacked by all the soldiers that were supposed to be here.

”Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!” Allura shouted while fighting of the Garla.

Shay showed them how she could communicate with all of her people through the Balmera. She had asked them to come help them. And some time later, Shay‘s family came down and opened the doors for them. Or more like, they brought the walls to grow and squeeze the door until it broke. It was really amazing to see the bond between the planet and the people, like this.

They got to their lions just in time before the Galra were able to capture them. Together they flew out of the shafts and into the battle. One battle ship had already appeared but they were able to win against them all by forming Voltron. 

However, before all of them could celebrate, another one of those robeasts that had attacked them on Arus appeared from out of nowhere and crashed on the planet.

Keith summoned his Lion‘s sword ready to fight it just like the one before. Unfortunately, it was not the same monster as before. This one was much stronger. And they were losing. In hopes to get out of its range and reassemble they steered their lions down in the shafts, where they met with Shay‘s family and other Balmerans again.

”What is happening?” The worried voices mirrored their expressions. They really didn‘t have it easy. First their planet is conquered by the Galra, making them all slaves and now they‘re being attacked by weird deadly monsters. The last only because they were here.

”There is a monster up there that Zarkon sent to destroy us.”

”A monster? Will Zarkon‘s savagery never abate? Perhaps our people were never meant to be free.” The sad expression on their faces broke all of their hearts.

”Shay, don‘t give up. Zarkon‘s power grows with every planet he conquers but he‘s weakened by every being that fights back.” Hunk tried to cheer her up a little.

”Fight back against a monster like that? How? We will never be able to be strong enough to fight back.” 

”I don‘t know, but we can beat it. Tell her Keith.”

Keith was momentarily thrown off by his sudden include in Hunk‘s story.

”Huh,” He was at a loss for words right now, but he caught himself. He took a deep breath and steeled his resolve, ”I- I know how hard it can be when everything just seems hopeless. How defeated you must feel.” He cast his eyes to the side, not knowing if he could take eye contact right now, ”And I understand if you’re scared and would rather everything stays the same as it is now.Cause it can only get worse if we fail, right?” Keith gave a tiny shrug with a slight wince, maybe he shouldn‘t have said that, ”And you have every right to be scared. No one would ever judge you for your feelings.” His voice got stronger with each word, ”But don’t you want to try it? We’re here now and we pr- we will try our best to get you out of here and protect you,” He would not promise it. It hurt too much if you can‘t keep that promise in the end. He only hoped his stutter wasn‘t too obvious, ”but that can only happen if you also want to. We can’t force you to fight. You were alone before, but not anymore. Don’t you want to finally see the sky again, taste the freedom, get the planet back which rightfully belongs to you? To not be suppressed under the egoistical thump of the Galra? You just have to take a step and believe in us - in  it to happen. You‘ll just have to take the chance. And we will give you that chance.”

They were speechless, especially his teammates didn‘t know what to say to Keith‘s words. 

”Keith’s right. This is our first mission and we’re not about to fail. We can beat it, we just need time to come up with a plan.” Shiro added.

”See? Told you we can. Thanks guys.” Hunk quietly added.

The ground suddenly started shaking and breaking apart below their feet. The Balmera was dying. They needed to do something and fast. They decided to evacuate all the Balmerans before the planet imploded. While the castle ship would land on the surface to get the Balmerans, the lions would engage the beast again to distract it. 

That was being easier said than done. Like Hunk had said, they were pretty good at the provoking part but not were successful with evading.

While, they were fighting it, Allura flew down to the ground in hopes to convince the people to leave their dying home. In the end, she was successful with encouraging all of them to take the first step to their own freedom. However, due to the planet dying below their feet and the raging fight outside, the planet‘s structure slowly fell apart trapping many Balmerans while trying to climb up. This just wasn‘t working, they‘d need another plan. Fortunately, the castle ship gave them the right idea.

Thanks to the Yellow Lions new shoulder cannon, they were able temporary stop the monster. With one last hit on the main cannon in its chest the beast went flying over all the Balmerans‘ heads. They had distracted it long enough for Allura to partially heal the planet, enough for it to defeat the beast itself by encasing it in a giant crystal.

All the Paladins had left their lions and had went over to the princess who lay exhausted on the ground in Coran‘s and Shay‘s arms. There, they could see the spectacle of the Balmera coming to life again and growing new crystals everywhere. It was absolutely breathtaking and beautiful. 

”Oh, who‘s a good Balmera? You are. Who ate the big monster? You did. Yes, you did. Yes, you did.” Hunk was apparently grateful enough, to sit on the ground petting and thanking the Balmera like it was a little baby or puppy. They all stared at him unimpressed.

In the end, they didn‘t exactly throw a parade like Lance had hoped they would do. It was understandable. They had lost so much and it was overwhelming to be finally free. Keith was sure that there were still a lot of Balmerans, if not the majority, that still believed that this was a dream and they weren‘t rid of Galra oppression. It would take some time for the reality to sink in that they were finally free.  
Keith‘s heart clenched in a good way, seeing all the Balmerans happy with their families, a smile on their faces.

He wasn‘t lying when he said he knew what they must feel like. And he knew exactly how they must be feeling now. 

”Hey Buddy.” Hunk strolled over to him and clasped him on the back.

”Oh, hey, Hunk. Shouldn‘t you be with Shay right now or something like that?” He smirked towards the yellow paladin who immediately blushed and stuttered.

”W-wha-what, why would y-you think that?!”

Keith just shrugged the little smirk still on his face.

”Actually, I was just about to go there.” Hunk fiddled with his hands.

Keith frowned, ”Then why are you here?”

”Oh, I just wanted to thank you again. It was really amazing what you said to the Balmerans down in the tunnels. Never expected something like that.

”Huh, oh yeah... that. Just somehow slipped out I guess,” Keith shrugged nonchalantly, ”Didn‘t even knew myself that I could say that. Sorry if it was a little mushy.”

”No no no, I think it was really heartfelt. How did you know what they would hear best?”

Keith looked to the side, ”Pure luck, I guess. Come on now. You shouldn‘t spend your time celebrating with me but your new friend.” Keith gave Hunk a little shove towards the other Balmerans.

Hunk looked back again but then went over where Keith had pushed him after giving him one last smile.

Keith stayed back, half hidden behind some random rocks while watching all the freed Balmerans and his other teammates. After some more time of ’socializing’ he guessed that he had stayed outside long enough for Shiro or Allura not to be angry and went back towards the Red Lion who was still parked outside with the other lions.  
He climbed on top of her head which she had lowered for him. The red metal was nicely warmed by the planet‘s atmosphere. Keith laid down on it and watched as the sun rose behind the horizon - The beginning of a new day for them and the Balmerans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I need to figure out how to do cliffhangers...


	9. Chapter 9

The next action on their plan was the extraction of Sendak‘s memories.

They would try to find out what the Galra might have planned and how they could prevent them. And Sendak was probably pretty high on Zarkon’s loyalists list, so they took a guess and expected him to have quite a bit of intelligence they could use. 

Altean technology was absolutely weird but also very impressive. He couldn’t even imagine for humans to ever get as far as they were, and that was ten thousand years ago. Just how advanced would they have been if Zarkon hadn‘t destroyed everything. 

Coran worried that it wouldn‘t work as well as with others due to Sendak not being a willing part in this.

”This was used to keep Altean memories alive, not to interrogate prisoners.” He explained while fiddling with the controls. 

While Pidge and Coran talked tech stuff in the front, the other three members of Voltron including the princess stayed in the back, happy to just watch them work.

”When I go, I want all of the stuff in my brain stored in a giant ship.” Keith tried not to snort at Lance‘s statement. 

”The amount of information in your brain could be stored in a paper airplane.” He just couldn‘t resist the response. But Lance was the one who had started this stupid rivalry. In this case, Keith just couldn‘t not say something. Lance reply even proved his point.

”Oh yeah? Well, the amount of information you have, Keith, could be...” Lance didn‘t continue.

Keith stayed calm and just raised one eyebrow at the little pause. ”Yeah?” he asked after Lance didn’t continue. The lack of an answer was obviously scratching on his ego.

”Uh.... it‘s less than what I have!”

”Oh, good one Lance!”

Keith rolled his eyes. The guy even seemed to be proud of his reply. Paper airplane - just like Keith had said.

He would have liked to say that he felt bad at Shiro‘s expression. But the only thing that hurt was the stupidity of Lance‘s words.

They then waited until Coran switched the machine on. Teal light was shining into the pod but nothing followed.

”Uh, is this what‘s supposed to be happening?”

”Let‘s give it some time.”

So they gave it some time. And waited and waited. And waited. It seemed like they did a lot of that. But nothing happened. Sendak was still as stone and nothing was filling the pod. Finally Keith had enough. If they could sit around here and do nothing while nothing happened, then he could also do something more useful.

”Well, I can‘t wait around anymore. I‘m going to hit the training deck.” 

He got upright from his position and left the others.

* * *

Keith was running. From what you ask? The freaking hunk of metal that was trying to kill him right now. 

By the time he had decided to finish his training for the day, the training bot hadn‘t stopped like he had commanded the system, instead running towards him and trying to cut his head off. They had battled some more before Keith had lost his bayard. Due to some luck and flexibility on his side, he was able to retrieve it and run for the door. Unfortunately for him, the bot cut right through the small opening between the door and wall, pushing it open again.

So Keith was running. Running through the many hallways while fighting off and parrying the strikes the bot dealt. 

It was during one of their clashes that he heard pounding and a muffled voice. Keith kicked the bot in the stomach sending it some meters flying back and ran for the voice who sounded more and more like a panicking Lance.

Even if their friendship wasn‘t the best at times, what he saw let his blood run cold. Cold mixed with some sort of irritation, because  why  was Lance in one of the airlocks? The poor Blue Paladin kept hitting on the wall separating him from the inside of the castle.

Keith ran straight for his teammate, panicking himself at the cold voice that slowly but steady counted down. Before Keith could even think of opening the door, a blade descended just where he had been seconds prior. He had let himself fall backwards before the bot could slice him in half. 

While Keith was crossing blades with the gladiator again, he heard the voice reach zero, opening the airlock. Keith had to do something and that fast if he didn‘t want Lance to get sucked out into space. And as much as both of them quarreled and argued, he did  not want that to happen. With as much force as he could muster, he pushed himself and the gladiator against the airlock doors. This way he was able to hit his blade against the button, opening the gate. The bot was sucked out into space and Keith crouched down, clinging to the castle walls. He did not want a repeat of what had happened on Sendak‘s ship, thank you very much. Especially because this time, he didn‘t have a suit on. He pushed himself as far as he could towards the opening and reached his hand inside trying to grab Lance who still hung from the wall, screaming very loud. When he had hold of the others hand, he pulled him back inside the castle and hit the button again, this time closing the gates.

Both of them were heaving and gasping for air, while they sat down next to each other. Keith used some seconds to calm himself, before he shouted in Lance‘s face.

”What were you doing out there?!” He could’t believe it. Just how did Lance always get himself in these situations?! First being bound to a tree and now locked in an airlock.

”Who was that guy?!” Lance exclaimed even louder than Keith.

”He was trying to kill me!”

”Well, is he the castle? Because that‘s who‘s trying to kill me!”

Both of the realized at the same time what was happening here. Because,  yes , the bot actually was the castle, or at least part of it. 

Keith would never admit it, but he and Lance got up and ran screaming down the hallway trying to find the others.

When they finally found Pidge and Hunk, both of them were floating in Zero-G in Green‘s hangar. Well that seemed a lot more fun than being almost killed by an robot or caught in an airlock.

”I don‘t care what you say, Coran. This castle is apples and bananas.” Not what Keith would have said in this situation, but pretty accurate.

”Perhaps the infection from Sendak‘s Galra crystal is worse than we thought,” Coran groaned. 

While Coran explained what could be happening to the ship right now, Keith‘s thoughts trailed in a different direction. The direction concerning their still missing two teammates. 

”Sendak? Wait. Has anyone seen Shiro?”

The first thing they did was run to where they had lastly seen the Black Paladin. And just as they‘d expected, he was still standing in front of the pod they had put Sendak into. He didn‘t look very good. Sweat was clinging to his skin and he looked much paler than usual. Additionally, he was heavily leaning against the port where Sendak‘s memories should have been. Right next to were Sendak was supposed to be, but the big Garla commander was nowhere in sight.

”Shiro! Are you ok? Where‘s Sendak?”

”I... I had to get him out of here.” Shiro uttered.

What? No! That meant that Sendak was still alive! Even out in space, no one would know what would happen to him. He was a danger and now they didn‘t have any sight on him. But Keith irritation and anger dissipated when he saw the deep sorrow and fear in Shiro‘s eyes. Why was he even alone here? Someone, like Shiro, who has been through so much, should never be left alone with their tormentor!

”I was hearing his voice. He... he can‘t be trusted on this ship.” Keith was feeling deep sadness at seeing his best friend in this state. He never should have left him alone like this, or at least looked after him again.

”It’s the ship!”, Lance explained, ”I got stuck in a cryo-pod, then in an airlock. Keith got attacked by a robot, and Hunk and Pidge got attacked by food. It‘s been a weird morning.”

Just as Lance had finished explaining at the stuff that had happened to them the computer started beeping. A screen appeared showing them that the ship had started a wormhole. But Allura was the only one able to do it. And she was supposed to be resting not just wormhole them somewhere without any of them knowing. This could only be a bad sign.

Without wasting much more time they ran for the only place she could be right now.

Allura was standing in the center of the control deck in her nightgown, happily smiling at them when they arrived.

”We‘re going to Altea. We‘re going home.” She said, ”My father is taking us.”

Keith felt deep sadness at the happy words. This was definitely not good. From Coran‘s and Allura‘s previous stories, it was clear that Altean didn‘t exist anymore. When they ran towards the princess, King Alfor‘s face appeared all around the room, his booming voice daring them to step even one step closer to his daughter. A particle barrier had surrounded the still calm princess.

”The crystal must have corrupted King Alfor‘s artificial intelligence. It‘s taking over!”

The wormhole ended and before them laid a burning planet only seconds away from exploding.

They tried to explain to Allura that that was not Altea, that her home planet didn‘t exist anymore, explained, about the corrupted crystal and begged her to stop the ship. But in her eyes, she only saw the once magnificent place that used to be her home. 

After some for shouting Coran got Allura to realized that the sight in front of her, of the juniberries in her hand was not real. Allura got out of the trance like state and saw the reality in front of her.But instead of finally stopping the ship, the artificial intelligence of her father pushed her out of the barrier, now steering the castle himself.

Alfor‘s image started glitching, showing the real unaffected Alfor fighting with the corrupted system. Their words overlapping while Alfor tried to tell her to disconnect the power source.

While the paladins went outside in their lions trying to stop or at least decrease the descend into the star, Allura brought a great sacrifice. In order to save themselves and the castle, she had to power down Alfor‘s A.I., losing all of his knowledge and personality in the end.

The sight of Allura after they reentered the castle broke all of their hearts. Keith could understand what it was like to lose a parent. The sight still following him in his dreams. But he had been much younger than her; much more innocent about the cruelties of the world. And he didn‘t have to do it himself. He didn‘t have the hard choice of being egoistical or doing it for others. But Allura had to make that decision. And she had his respect for that. The decision to save all of them at the cost of losing her father for a second time. Not only after Altea fell and she woke up ten-thousand years later, but now too. At her own hands, to save all of the Paladins.

”Im so sorry about what happened to your father.” Shiro sat next to her in the control room, hand on her shoulder like he did so often to cheer other up a little and show his support.

”We all are.”

”Thank you, but that was not my father.” He stood up facing all of them, ”The real King Alfor was a great man and a great father. He may not be here with us anymore, but his dream lives on through all of us, and his legacy is Voltron.”

Allura spoke in a strong voice. Making all of them smile at her words and bravery to face the future.

* * *

Keith was lying in his bed not being able to fall asleep. The nights before, he had been too tired and exhausted to really think about everything that had happened and his surroundings. Now he was lying here in the darkness with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. Whenever he closed them, he could hear creaking and silent whispers. He tossed and turned until he was caught in his blanket not being able to move his limbs. Restricted by his bed, his breathing sped up.

As the walls seemed to close in on him, his vision blackened at the edges.

He hadn’t realized this sooner because he had fallen asleep instantly, but now, the realized just how small the rooms were the Alteans had given them. And with what happened today it was even scarier. It didn’t even matter that the walls were white with teal lights, it still made Keith uneasy and lost in his memories. The more he thought about that, the more he lost himself. The walls were coming closer, his blanket was holding him tight. With some effort he was able to sit up and squeeze himself into the corner of his bed, shivering and breathing erratically. He had somehow managed to loosen his blanket but was now gripping his pillow tight in front of his body, squeezing the life out of it. 

After some more minutes lost in a haze, something in front of him flashed. Only for a second, but this little flash of teal, silver and purple colored light was able to get him back to reality, even if only for some moments. He let his eyes sweep across his room until they met silver and purple. His dagger was laying on his bed, where normally his pillow rested. His vision zeroed in on it and stayed there. Slowly his breathing got back to normal and his vision received all colors again. Funny how something purple, which should represent their enemies, was able to calm him down. Only this little detail of his life, of something he knew and was familiar to him could make him realize where he was and that he wasn’t in danger. He let go of the pillow and grabbed his knife. In the mirror like surface he saw his reflection. His pale sweaty face, the restricted pupils and even some elongated teeth. For a small moment it even looked like his sclera had been yellow, but that just had to have been the light and his exhaustion playing up. Not thinking long about it, he climbed out of bed. Now that he was much calmer, he was able to detangle his body and throw the blanket to the side. 

He shivered when his bare feet met the cold surface of the ground. Wishing for some warm socks but having none, he continued on to the bathroom. He didn’t even made the effort to turn on the lights. Not looking up he splashed some cold water in his face. The droplets that ran down his arms and throat made him shiver even more. Now he wished he had taken his blanket with him, but that only would have gotten wet. He dried his face and went back to his room without looking up and seeing his ghostly reflection again. He stopped in the middle, looked at his messed up bed and around the room and decided that he wouldn’t find any sleep here tonight. 

Luckily his brain was awake enough to tell him to put on his boots instead of walking round bare-footed. He decided that he would be much more comfortable with something shielding his body and put his blanket around his shoulders. Like this, he slipped out the door and into the corridor. Looking first left then right, he realized that he didn’t know where he should go. He would go to the trainings room but even he knew that if he were to fight in his state he would probably hurt himself or do stuff he would regret the next morning. So he just started walking. Hopefully he wouldn’t end up somewhere and not find his way back, but as long as he didn’t take various stairs down or up he should be fine. He walked for more than half an hour in a trance like state through the barely lit hallways of the Castle of Lions. 

He tiptoed along until his body was consumed by heat. Not bad all-consuming heat but a secure warmth. When he looked up, he realized that his feet had taken him to the hangers. The Red Lion standing proud right in front of him. 

Gazing up at the majestic beast, a purring made itself know in his head. Red’s eyes lit up a warm golden yellow and her head dipped down, opening her mouth for Keith to enter. With a little smile gracing his lips, he accepted the Lion’s offer and went ahead into her cockpit. Red light was shining on his body, completely different to the cold colors of the castle’s walls. Realizing the tired state her pilot was in, Red dimmed the lights even more, but enough so that Keith could find his way to his seat. He sat down and basked in the heat that his Lion radiated. Even though the red lion was the smallest of them all and even Blue’s cockpit could barely hold five teenagers, Keith felt more secure and save than he ever did. The size of Red’s head wasn’t crushing or constricting but like a safety-blanket fully surrounding his body and giving him security. He moved his legs up and rolled himself into a small ball in Red’s pilot seat. Like this he finally was able to fall asleep. No nightmares plagued him this night and whenever his thoughts would stray, Red was there to shield him from the depths of his mind. 

The Red Lion, lifted her head from the ground and sat up, diminishing the light in her eyes but staying alert to anything that might threaten her new pilot after ten thousand years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda boring chapter, the next too, so I‘m sorry


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter one day earlier! I want to publish four chapters in three weeks, cause two of them are rather short. So the next two-three weeks are not necessarily on fridays.
> 
> I don‘t have much knowledge about gymnastics and proper stretching or fighting exercises, so please don‘t judge me for what I‘m writing here. I really have no idea if it‘s correct or pretty much some fantasy writing.

Keith woke up well rested. The lights inside the Red Lion‘s cockpit were still dimmed. Even the front window was tinted dark almost opaque. Keith could still see the hangar outside but he couldn’t determine if the lights were already on or not. But he bet that they’ve been on for quite some time already.

He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes again.

”Thanks for letting me sleep in here, Red.” He gave a light scratch to the leather like surface of the pilot‘s chair. Red purred in his mind, engulfing him in even more warmth. 

She slowly raised the lights to their full power again. And just like he had thought, the lights outside were indeed already on, indicating the day circle in the Castle of Lions.

”I guess, I’ve been gone long enough from the team.” He slowly rose from the chair and folded the blanket. Red leaned down again to let her pilot leave. Her golden yellow eyes following her pilot‘s movements. Keith pat her snout a last time and went back to his room. There, he laid the blanket on his bed, dressed and went into the bathroom, getting ready for the day.

Finally done, he moved on to the kitchen.

Hunk and Pidge were inside, chatting animatedly. There was no hint of the other castle residents.

”Good Morning, Keith.” ”Morning.” Hunk and Pidge greeted him.

“Hey, guys.”

Hunk was happily chatting away already, putting a plate of... something in front of him. It kinda looked like an omelet but he wasn‘t sure. Whatever it was was a pastel lavender color with dark red bubbles on them.

Keith must have looked as lost as he felt with the thing that was in front of him because Hunk proceeded to enlighten him as to what he had cooked. 

”Those were supposed to be pancakes, even if they don‘t look like it. But they taste more like eggs with oranges.” He gave a tiny shrug but the smile stayed on his face. 

At Keith grimace, Pidge replied helpfully, ”It doesn‘t taste as bad as it sounds, trust us.”

He guessed he just had to take their word for it. Hopefully, they didn‘t do something weird with it and Lance was waiting somewhere with a camera. He took a first bite and it really wasn‘t as bad as he had thought. It actually tasted quite good. Weird and needed some time to get used to it, but not bad. 

Pidge and Hunk talked some more while Keith was eating. Occasionally he would contribute something to their conversation and then go back to eating. It was actually quite interesting what they talked about. 

”I want to explore the castle a little later. Those are aliens who are thousands of years ahead of us! What do you think might lie here somewhere just waiting for us to find it!” Pidge suddenly changed the topic. Or maybe Keith had just not listened there for a second.

”You mean, like a nasty space bug? Or a robot that can clone you?” Hunk looked at her skeptical. 

Pidge did a humming sound, ”Yeah, kinda something like that. Not the bug but something like a cloning machine.”

”Mind if I accompany you? When you explore?” Keith asked after he had returned from putting his plate in the sink.

”Sure.”

”When did you plan on going?” Keith asked her while sitting down again.

”After- Oh yeah, before we forget, Allura has called for a meeting after breakfast. Lance and you are the last ones up and he is still not here, so if you see him, tell him to come to the bridge.”

”What’s that with the bridge?”

_ Did Lance have a sensor to appear whenever they talk about him?!  _

”Oh, good that you‘re here. Allura wants us to come to the bridge after we‘re done eating.”

”Roger that.” Lance sat down next to Hunk. The latter moved another plate with food towards the Blue Paladin.

”So, I wanted to go after we’re done with it.” Pidge finally finished her reply.

”Whe disch z’ou want to ’o?” Lance said with his mouth still filled with food. 

All of them looked at him kinda grossed out, but quickly calmed down again.

”Exploring the castle. Keith had just asked if he could come with me.”

Lance gulped the rest of the food in his mouth down, ”Mullet? Why would you take him? There would be no fun there!”

Keith and Pidge looked at him with a ’are you serious’ expression.

Pidge didn‘t even deem Lance worthy of a reply. And Keith would be the last one to say something to that. 

Keith just turned towards Hunk and Pidge again, ”Do you know what Allura wants to talk about?”

”Yeah, it‘s gonna be about Sendak‘s memories. I already experimented something with it but didn’t come to a satisfying result yet. Due to Sendak being unwilling, the memories aren’t really the best and orderly.”

Later on the bridge

”Somewhere inside Sendak‘s memories we should be able to findthe inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon.” Allura was looking over Pidge‘s shoulder with a very scary gleam in her eye. Kinda like Pidge could be when she found something to hack or Lance when he found his next victim of his flirtatious outings.

”I don‘t think your father would approve of searching through an enemy‘s memories.” Coran remarked.

”I know, but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon.”

”Once we learn all his weaknesses, we can drive up his front door and challenge him to a fight.” Lance was pumping his fist into the air. 

_ If only it was really that easy, Lance...  _

”Winner gets the universe.” Lance finished his statement. His tone was smug. 

Too smug for Keith‘s linking. It could only end in disaster if they let his ideas carry on.  Judging by his expression, Lance was again imagining some kind of hero position while we others groveled at his feet.

”Anything good yet, Pidge?”

”We were only able to salvage bits and pieces.” Pidge didn‘t even stop her tipping. The others could only watch her work.

”We need something to work with. Right now, we don‘t even have a decent map of the empire.” Keith sighted.

”Who needs a map? After 10.000 years of conquering, I could probably fire my bayard at any random point in space and hit a Galra ship.” 

_ Well, actually he wasn‘t that wrong. _

”If we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one.” A frown was present on Shiro‘s face, deeply thinking about anything they could do.

”Boring. I want the big kaboom.” 

They all looked at Lance with an annoyed expression. Well except Pidge who was still identifying their information and Hunk who looked more worried than annoyed at Lance‘s plan, and Coran, who Keith wasn‘t even sure if he could be annoyed at anyone of them. He always had that cheery attitude. So that only left Keith and Shiro and half of Allura who switched between glaring at Lance and peering at the screen. But that didn‘t really count because she was looking at Lance annoyed most of the time. 

”Zarkon‘s been building his empire for 10.000 years. We‘re not going to tear it down over night with five inexperienced pilots and one support ship. Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake.” Keith really hoped Shiro‘s voice of reason would break through Lance‘s thick skull.

But before Lance could retort anything else unnecessary, Pidge interrupted them.  ”Okay, I‘ve cross-referenced Sendak‘s memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus. Most of it was a garbled mess, it doesn‘t really point to anything. Some spots are repeating, but I guess I need some more time and information on Galran language to correctly identify what was stored in his brain. Maybe even a map of the universe might help to pin-point certain locations that appear.”

”Alright, guess, there‘s nothing really we can do about that now. Good job, Pidge. Take the time you need to decipher everything.” Shiro dismissed everyone.

”Will do, boss.” Pidge saluted and went back to tipping.

Later

Keith found himself in the common room. While Pidge was still on the bridge working on decoding Sendak‘s memories, he decided to just wait here until she was done. Only belatedly did he realize that that wasn’t as good an idea as he had thought. After all it was Pidge, he was talking about; She could stay cooped up the whole day and night on the bridge working on her stuff and forgetting everything else. Especially because in some way it could also help her to find her brother and father. 

Fortunately, luck was on his side today, because Pidge had not forgotten about their plans. After about an hour she came in looking for Keith. He felt absolutely honored to have stayed in her mind, for her to put her laptop to the side.

”Ready?”

”Yep.” He stood up from the couch and followed his fellow paladin outside.  ”So, where do you want to go first?”

”I thought about visiting maybe level 34 first. Coran told me about all the inventions and some of the stuff they stored there. And after that to the lower library.”

”Lower? Is there more than one?” Keith asked while they walked next to each other towards the elevators.

”Yes, apparently they have three; four if you count the smaller one, which I bet is as big as the one in the Garrison.”

”Sure, because you need four giant libraries in one space ship.”

”Yeah, well, our luck isn‘t it?”

”More to explore, right?”

”Yep.” She popped the p at the end.

They continued walking and then entered the elevator bringing them to Level 34.

They had found some interesting things, and some kinda weird useless stuff...

But it was nonetheless really fun. Especially with Pidge at his side. They got along great. She was really surprised that he could understand some of the more techy stuff she spoke about.

They were now sitting in the library browsing through some of the books. Pidge had told him about wanting to learn some Altean. He had sat down next to her, peering in alongside her. Apparently she had found some program with which they could learn. After the first round where he had almost been eaten by a bear, he decided to go back to the books and maybe some more simple ways to learn Altean. But contrary to Pidge, Keith was a bit more interested in Galran. It would be most beneficial to be able to read the language while they infiltrated the bases. After all, he didn’t want to accidentally run into the commander lounge or something like that. 

So the following days, they spend many hours there, learning both languages. Surprisingly, Keith was better than Pidge, at least concerning Galran. She was much more fluent in Altean while he was very talented in pronouncing and speaking the language of the purple space cats. It was a lot easier for him than her. She just did seem to be able to pronounce the words as well as Keith did. Strangely the words which she struggled with rolled easily over Keith’s tongue. He had tried to teach her how to do it, but it just didn’t really seem to work. He guessed it was because his animal side made it possible to create those sounds.

”Okay, how the heck do you do that?!”

”I‘m just using my tongue...”

”No way in hell, it sounds much too throaty to be spoken like that.”

”That‘s the problem. You shouldn‘t use your throat for that. At least that‘s how I understand it.”  But Pidge still didn‘t look fully convinced.

”It works, doesn‘t it?” Keith tried one more time.

”Argh, I don‘t get it! Then how about that; we‘ll always go together on missions. While I do the Altean part, you to the Galra part.” Her lips formed a mischievous smirk. 

”I don‘t think that will work, but ok?” It sounded more like a question at the end than he‘d have liked.

After some time just sitting in the library, his limbs slowly started to cramp.

”Hey, Pidge, I‘m gonna go train some. Wanna join me?”

”Nah, you go train, I‘m staying here a little longer.”

”Alright.”

Keith put the books he had in front of him back to the shelf, except one; that he took with him. He had started to read it and found it surprisingly interesting. Maybe he could continue reading when he again couldn‘t fall asleep.

First he went back to his room. He put the book next to his bed and went over to the wardrobe. Luckily, Coran had showed them how the machine worked which created more clothing for them. After all they just came with the stuff on their backs to the castle. He changed his clothes to something more comfortable, a simple black t-shirt and dark grey joggers. After that he went to the kitchen to get himself one of those water packs that don‘t contain water and continued on to the trainings room.

”Start trainings level 3.” He commanded to the system. 

Seconds later, the Altean Gladiator fell from the ceiling ready to battle. Keith got into position and waited for it to attack first.

The gladiator ran straight towards him, Keith raised his blade to parry the first strike and used the bot‘s momentum to let it stumble past him when he deflected their swords to the side. He spun around and tried to slash at its open back, but the gladiator was faster and spun back around blocking his strike. The gladiator pushed him back and Keith caught himself with a roll immendatelly jumping back up to block the next strike. 

This continued on for some time. The first bot took about fifteen minutes to defeat. After that he repeated the level five more times, always trying to finish the level faster than before. He had sworn himself to get better, to be strong enough to protect himself and his teammates. And for that he had to train more and be better, stronger, faster. He couldn’t make a mistake during real battle. Whenever he did one or took longer or just as long as the previous time, he would repeat it additionally two more times. He did that until he was at level six. When he looked at the clock, he realized that he had trained for more than five hours. And his body realized that too. His muscles started quivering and his limbs shaking. He hadn‘t even realized how much he had pushed himself the whole time. It was long overdue to finish it up before Shiro came in and told him off about careless and irresponsible behavior. Well, he wasn‘t that wrong. If Zarkon were to attack them right now, Keith wouldn‘t be at full power. Maybe he should make himself some timer the next time...

He drank something and went back to the middle to stretch some more. He had made it a habit to always do that after training. The book he had read back then in the facility always staying in his mind at those times. He sat down on the ground and stretched him legs out in front of him. He stretched his arms towards his legs and bowed his back. His chest was touching the ground when he felt the tiniest sting in his muscles. He waited some seconds, holding it before getting upright again. He did some more exercises and then called it quits for today.

He went back to his room and beelined towards the shower. The warm stream on his body felt really good as it washed away all the sweat. After fifteen minutes in the shower from which were more than half the time spend just standing under the warm stream, he emerged back into his room. Just a towel around his waist and one around his shoulder rubbing at the wet hair. Out of his closet he took one red hoodie and tighter black sweat pants. 

His movements stopped in the middle of the room. He looked down on his bed and just stared. He let his sight sweep across the white expanse of the bedding. It felt... cold. Something was missing. He now finally had the time to really think about it. Well he had had plenty of time before but he only realized it now. Just like some days before about how small the room actually was. Couldn‘t the Alteans have given them somewhat bigger rooms? I mean, they were the only people in the whole castle; there sure as heck must have been bigger rooms. And they were the Paladins of Voltron!

Keith deflated, why was he so hung up about this? He had never had a problem with this kind of thing. Heck, he spent most of his live in tiny rooms that resembled a cell or cage more than a room. Even at the Garrison. The only things in their rooms were a bed, a desk and a wardrobe. Nothing really more. And that was if you were lucky enough to get a single room.

But maybe that was the problem. Keith had spent one year in absolute freedom with all the space the desert could give him. He didn‘t want to get back to how things used to be. Back to tiny room that reminded him of a cage. But maybe if he made the room a bit more homey, even if he didn‘t even really knew what that was or entailed, he wouldn‘t feel so caged in. After all, the room wasn‘t that tiny. Keith just had to get used to the size again.

But the room still felt cold. The whole atmosphere felt like something alien. And well it was alien, but still. He had slept so well some night prior in Red. The warmth of the cockpit was heavenly and so relaxing. Maybe he had to get a similar feeling here. 

So he left the room. If he were to somehow live here, he should make his own room as comfy as possible. And comfy meant for him blankets. Blankets and pillows. And that lots of them. The softer the better. He never really had the opportunity to have that. But now here, where he wasn‘t dependent on the capriciousness of somebody else, he would use every opportunity to get the best whenever he could. And nobody could stop him from getting something fluffy if he wanted something fluffy.

During their exploration trip through the castle, he had found room filled with bedding. Bedding and a machine, similar to the one which created the clothes for them, that created and stored them. And just as he had thought, when he entered the room, the closets were filled to the brim with the stuff. 

He opened each of the compartments and felt along the materials. Some were kinda rough; he never would expect someone to be comfortable with those, but there must have been lots of different aliens visiting and staying at the castle before, so it wasn‘t that surprising.

He continued feeling along the different fabrics until his hands met pure fluff. He stopped on the spot as soon as his hands landed on the blanket. It was so so soft, he couldn’t take his hands off it. He carefully pulled it out of the pile and held it in his hands, staring down at it. It was a deep maroon red with lavender accents and a gold trimming, as if it had just waited for him to find it. He pulled it towards his face and rubbed it along his cheek. It was even softer than in his hands and he could have just stayed here and felt along it for the whole evening. 

He pushed his whole face into the material and just started purring. Out of nowhere. He just  had to take this back with him to his room. But maybe there were more of it. More of the heavenly fluff in his hands. He searched through the pile he had pulled it from and found two more. One a dark purple and the other like the first only instead of the purple, a deep black and the red was much brighter and more vibrant. He put those three on a separate pile and took some more items that fit his requirements. 

He stocked them on top of each over and then picked them up. He barely could see the way in front of him. If something were to stand in his way, he would surely collide with it. Fortunately he made it back to his room without running into anyone or anything. 

He let everything fall onto his bed and used the next two hours before dinner to arrange them the way he preferred. He padded all sides, creating a nest like structure and finished the bottom with one of the fluffy blankets. The second he laid down over his main pillow and the third he would use as normal blanket laying it on top of his whole bed. He was finished just in time when Hunk called them to eat over the intercom. Happy with his work, he left his room and joined the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can take fluffy blankets loving Keith from my cold dead hands.
> 
> And yeah, I admit this was more of a filler chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that not all chapter are happening necessarily directly after one another. Often, days or even weeks can have passed between each. Not always but sometimes.

Keith had been in the trainings room since early in the morning. The night had been rough on the young boy, being plagued by nightmare after nightmare. They mostly consisted of the others expelling him from the team, leaving him alone on some deserted planet to rot and die. But they were getting better. He had them less frequent since trying to bond more with his team. But he still had difficulties being around them, especially the trio. Their joking, stories and general behavior was something Keith still couldn‘t match. 

He had ruined his whole bed with how much he had tossed and turned. Naturally, his destroyed nest-bed only added to his bad mood.

He had beaten so many droids that he lost count and was now on level 12. His t-shirt was drenched and sweat was running down his face and back. When the last robot almost beheaded him, Keith decided to call in quits for today - or at least until after dinner. He ended the sequence and went over to his towel and drink. The others must already been awake for some time. Only then did he realize that he had missed breakfast and lunch, but none of the others had deemed it necessary to get him, or at least look that he was still alive. The thought hurt a little. But he guessed that he was used to being alone and taking care of himself. He took his stuff and went to his room for a nice hot shower in hopes of loosening his tense muscles.

Finally, not smelling like sweat anymore and hair as good as dry, he made his way to the common room, looking what the others were up to. Maybe the Princess or Coran had a new mission for them.

Only when he entered the room, he wasn‘t greeted with laughter or simple conversation but a very loud shriek. The noise of a dying animal was followed by screaming. To be exact Keith‘s screaming. Because, he had stepped on the thing that had given the noise from it, which had then continued to bite so hard into Keith‘s leg that he started bleeding. Keith in turned shook the thing away from his body kicking it some meters into the room.

”What the heck?!! Why did you do that?!!” Keith shouted now almost standing on one leg.

The little animal skittered away from him and let itself fall behind the yellow paladin, who sat on one side of the couch. 

The commotion led the missing residents of the castle into the room.

”What is going on in here?!” Allura had expected some enemies to have infiltrated the castle after hearing the noises, but was only greeted by three of the paladins and-

”And why is there a furry noodle in the room?”

Shiro and Coran stood behind her just as confused.

They didn‘t have to wait long for the blue paladin to appear right next to Hunk.

”Ehm,  _excuse me_?  I am  _ not  _ a furry noodle!!” Said noodle was offended by the princess’ remark. But didn‘t linger on it, instead turning to the red paladin. ”And why did I do that?! YOU  _ stepped  _ on me!!!” 

Pidge meanwhile sat in the corner, laptop on her lap and a grin on her face while watching the show her teammates were presenting her with. Previously, Lance had been rolling around in his shifted form - a brown-white ferret - in the whole room letting out little squeaks now and then. That was until Keith stepped into the room and consequently on Lance who lay right on front of the door.

”And then he proceeded to kick me!” Lance shouted into the room, a full-blown pout now on his face.

”I did no such thing. You bit me!” The others then got a look at the raven haired boys ankle and it was indeed bleeding with tiny teeth marks. Especially today he hadn‘t worn his ankle boots but instead some sneakers the castle had created for them.

Before the quarrel could get out of control, Shiro stopped the Red and Blue Paladins. ”Okay okay, what exactly happened here?”

”Just like I said, Keith stepped on me with full intention and then kicked me through the room!” Lance accused.

”I only stepped on you because you were lying right behind the door. And I didn‘t do it purposely! How should I have known that you were shifted in your tiny body and right in the way?! You should have thought about the others who are living with you. It‘s your own fault!”

Lance gasped, ”You take that back! My body is not tiny! And you‘re just mean and hate everybody around you!” Lance argued back.

”Calm down boys! Lance, Keith didn‘t knew and couldn‘t have seen that you were lying there, so it is not his fault, so apologize for biting him. And Keith, apologize to Lance for stepping on him.” Lance cleared his throat and looked challenging at Shiro. Shiro just groaned silently and rolled his eyes, ”And for saying that he has a tiny body.”

The boys looked at each other for a while, none saying anything to the other. After about one minute of silence, Keith deflated, not wanting to have Shiro‘s disappointed gaze any longer on his back. He finally relented and made the first step.

”I’m really sorry for stepping on you. I didn‘t mean to, and hopefully haven‘t hurt you.” Keith looked Lance in the eye for some seconds and then to the ground.

Lance just harrumphed and muttered to himself how Keith had wanted to hurt him. Naturally, Lance just was not talented in whispering, so that the room, especially Keith heard him. But before anyone could say anything, Hunk rammed his elbow into Lance‘s side, making him look up and apologize finally.

”I‘m sorry for biting you.” He muttered flippantly, not even making eye-contact with Keith.

Keith lifted his eyebrows, not fully convinced of the sincerity. Did Lance really think that Keith had wanted to hurt him? What did that say about their team? It wasn‘t like he had walked in with the intention of stepping on him and he even apologized. Lance didn‘t even seem to really mean his. Just wanting to get the others off his back. And it seemed to have worked. Everyone was happy that the two apologized, even Shiro wasn‘t saying anything, not about the words Lance said before - even though everyone had clearly heard them - nor the not-quite-apology.

”So now, that that‘s taken care of, mind explaining to us why you looked like ... that?” Allura had walked to the middle of the room, Coran right on her heels.

This was the point where Pidge got up from the floor and plopped onto the couch on the other side of Hunk and Lance.

”You see Princess, that is something some of us humans can do. The noodle like form Lance was in before-” She continued, ignoring Lance‘s indignant _Hey! f_ rom the other side of the couch,  ”-Is Lance‘s Shifter form. Around one fifth of the population on Earth has a second form they can transform to. Normally, those are some smaller animals.” 

While Pidge explained the second appearance of some humans, the Paladins show them what exactly she meant.

First Lance transformed back into a noodle - eh ferret, followed by Hunk, who turned into a beaver, then Pidge herself, who was a green Budgerigar (?) and finally Shiro who showed his slightly bigger dog form. The trio was quite impressed. They had never seen live how Takashi Shirogane shifted. Same as the Alteans, who didn‘t know of this side of their human companions.

When the four of them had shifted and went back to being human they had realized that one of them hadn‘t transformed. Without any of them noticing, he had left the room. Allura and Coran asked if Keith was also one of the humans who were able to shift and if yes what he was. All of them just shrugged, none knew what Keith was - even in the Garrison it had been one of the mysteries.

Lance was saying that Keith was probably a rat. And was just embarrassed to show himself to the others.

”What exactly is a rat?” Allura was asking.

”Oh you see, it‘s this small dirty Earth animal, that‘s lives in the gutter and is always carrying some sort of disease.”

”That’s not nice to say something like that, about something you don’t know. And rats aren‘t all dirty rodents. There are the really cute ones you can keep as pets.” Hunk interrupted Lance. The other two humans were looking at him with an angry expression on their faces. 

”Yeah, Lance, this really takes it a little far.” Pidge was saying. Even she didn‘t find it that funny, especially with how Lance description of rodents went.

”Oh come on guys, it would totally fit him. With that appearance and attitude.”

Shiro had a disapproving and worrying frown on his face. He still knew how hard it was for Keith to speak about this matter. Not even Shiro knew what Keith was. He remembered that Keith had thought about telling Shiro about his past when he returned from Kerberos. Now, he felt a sting of regret; not having talked to Keith at all since coming back. Shiro knew that is was not his fault that the Galra had captured them, but he still felt bad for having left Keith behind and not having taken some time to properly talk to the younger since he saved him. Man, just how hurt must Keith have felt when both of his friends left him, broke their promises and were announced dead? Actually, what had happened when they had been captured? What had the Garrison told the public? Their families?

Shiro interrupted the conversation between the Alteans and Humans about the abilities of human-kind

”Hey guys? What exactly has the Garrison told everybody when the Kerberos Crew got lost?”

All of them had a painful look on their face, not wanting to tell their big hero what has been said about him.

”Ehm, you see, they said it was ’pilot error‘. That the shuttle crashed and no one survived.” 

”Yeah, not even our families had been told more about the incident, only that our loved ones are dead.” Pidge had an angry expression, ”And I knew they lied to us. There had been absolutely no evidence.” She added quietly, then seemingly deflated, ”They also didn’t try any rescue missions or trying to figure out what exactly happened, at least in the public‘s eye.”

The anger and disappointment Shiro felt at what the Garrison had done was quickly consumed by the guilt he felt. They had only told everybody that it was his fault. And Keith had been all alone. He hoped that Adam had at least looked after the kid. But after how they went their separate ways, Shiro didn‘t know.

”Do you know what happened to Keith? I think he said something about washing out.”

”Urgh, sure let‘s get back to talking about Keith.” Lance plopped down in the couch and leaned back letting out a loud sigh. ”He was expelled.”

”Actually, nobody really knows what happened to him. It was some weeks after you had been declared dead.” Hunk and Shiro both winced. ”One day everything was normal and the next day he was just gone.” Hunk explained.

”Yeah, it was kinda some of the big Garrison‘s mysteries. There was lots of theorizing, but one thing for sure was that Iverson lost an eye and then Keith was gone.” Lance just shrugged.

”You think he hit an officer?”

”Well, that‘s what everybody thinks.”

Shiro was lost in thought. While the others went back to talking about human Shifters, Shiro left the room. He didn‘t know what to do first. Talk to Keith or process everything that has been said. Maybe he first should get his thoughts in order before talking to the raven haired boy. 

Keith meanwhile after having decided that he did not like where the conversation was going, left the room while his teammates shifted. It was at least good to know what they were. He was sure that it hadn‘t been a secret in the Garrison but he sure as hell didn‘t previously wanted to take part in this matter.

He sneaked out of the room, but not far enough, until he heard the voices of Allura and Coran asking about him.

Before he was out of reach, he heard how Lance was saying that he was probably a disease carrying, in the gutter living rodent, with his behavior and appearance. After hearing this he fastened his pace. He had heard enough for today. He blinked back the tears that gathered in the corners of his eyes. He went straight back to his room and took the fluffy blanket he had found some time ago. It reached to the ground and was so big that he could burrito burrow himself into it. He put it around his shoulders and continued walking on. During his stay in the castle, he had been visiting the lower and upper levels, exploring and looking for some nice quiet spot. While walking around he had found a room, with a window to the stars, not unlike the observation room, but a little smaller with some furniture standing around. He had gathered some more pillows and blankets and created a nest-like structure on the ground. He locked the door made sure that Coran hadn’t had the great idea of installing new cameras and then went to the nest. He secured the blanket more around himself so that it was covering his whole body, lay on the ground and then shifted to his panther form. Being surrounded by fluffy blankets and soft pillows really satisfied his inner cat. He usually started purring after some minutes and borrowed himself further into the nest. Soon falling into a light nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was pre-written, so i‘m sorry if some stuff doesn‘t seem to match up.
> 
> Next chap is supposed to update on sunday.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually written to make the previous chapter longer but it became a chapter itself.
> 
> Little warning for vomit.

Keith woke up to a growling stomach. The sight that greeted him was the same he fell asleep to. The stars in multiple colors blinking and shining in front of his eyes. He didn‘t want to get up. The blanket was warm and his position was just right. But his stomach was a different opinion. It kept on growling and cramping, reminding him that he didn‘t have anything to eat yet today. Debating if it was alright to skip eating one day, Keith decided against that. He could live one or two day without food, but the risk of Zarkon or any Galra ship attacking was much too high for him to slack off and be so low in energy.

So he went to the kitchen. Fortunately for him, none of the others were to be seen anywhere. When Keith opened the fridge, inside was one plate Hunk had prepared for him. If it was from lunch or if he had already missed dinner, Keith didn’t know, but he was grateful nonetheless. Being in no mood to face any of the others, he took the plate and went back to the room he just came from, to eat his dinner - or lunch... - there.

His stomach appreciated to be finally filled, calming down and stopping its cramping. 

After he was done, he kept himself occupied by watching the stars some more. The more he watched the sleepier he got. Even with the nap previously, he was still tired. He wasn’t sure how much sleep he had gotten the past nights and with the rough training additionally, he soon succumbed to sleep.

Unfortunately for him, his sleep didn‘t last long. His dreams were plagued by nightmares, giving Keith no rest. Memories of his time at the Garrison replaying endlessly in his mind. Moments of taunting. Of all the other cadets‘ sneering faces coming closer and closer, following him wherever he ran.

” _Too good for the lowly rest of us!”_

_”Too embarrassed to show himself in front of us”_

_”Cheater”_

_”Do you think that you are better than us?”_

_”He‘s too good to show his form in front of us peasants.”_

_”Nobody ever wanted you anyway.”_

_”You‘re useless”_

_”Worthless”_

_”Orphan trash”_

_”You‘re all alone, because no body loves you”_

_”Unworthy”_

_”Pathetic”_

_”Hothead”_

_”Weak”_

_”Noboby cares about you”_

_”They will never see you as family!”_

_”You will never be part of them!”_

_”Forever alone!”_

It kept on repeating and echoing in his mind.

_Until everything shifted. The ugly angry faces of his former classmates melted in form of black goop to the ground. Consuming every open surface until it reached Keith‘s feet. Slowly it crawled along his legs; up his body. Wrapping around every surface of Keith‘s body it could reach. Climbing higher and higher. Keith tried to get the stuff off himself, crying for help, but soon he was fully engulfed in black. Everything was dark, he could see nothing._

_And then he was falling._

_Falling and falling further into the depth of nothingness. Soon he lost consciousness until he roughly landed somewhere. His surroundings were still black. Everywhere he looked._

_Cold hands trailed up his spine. Keith spun around trying to face whatever had touched him just now, but there was nothing, only black. Endless darkness._

_The hand appeared again, this time from the other side, slowly feeling up his back until grasping at his neck. Shivers went through Keith body. He tried to get that disgusting feeling away from him but he couldn‘t more anymore. When he blinked, he found himself, reclined and chained to a table. Black bleeded into burning white. The light above him blinding him to everything that went on around him._

_”Beautiful”_

_”So pretty”_

_”Such a good boy”_

Compliments should make one happy or receiving other kinds of positive feelings, but Keith just felt nauseous. Goosebumps appearing all over his skin and shivers raking over his body.

” _Test object”_

_”Behave”_

_”Listen”_

_”Do”_

_”Be silent!”_

_”Don‘t move”_

_”Experiment”_

_Red scratches arose all over his arms. He dug his nails into his arms in hopes of waking up from those dark memories but it didn‘t work. Panic was rising up his throat, squeezing it shut._

_”Pet”_

_”Doll”_

_”Specimen”_

_”So good for us”_

_”Gorgeous”_

_”It”_

_”It”_

_”It”_

_”IT”_

_”IT”_

_”IT”_

_”IT”_

** _”IT”_ **

Keith woke up with a loud gasp. Taking in air like he was about to die. Sweat clung to his face making his bangs stick to it. His heart was beating rapidly and he still felt nauseous.

As fast as he could, he stumbled upright and ran to the next bathroom. It was only pure luck that he found one not even five door down from the room he had been in.

As soon as his knees hit the cold hard floor, his stomach emptied itself into the bowl. Some tears ran down his face, dropping into the water below, mixing with his dinner. He felt hot and cold at the same time. His body was shivering, almost unable to keep himself upright, while his bangs stuck to his face. He heaved some more until his stomach was fully empty. He cleaned his face a little with the paper and flushed the toilet. He slumped to the side, not being able to sit upright anymore. He pressed his sweaty face into the cold tiles of the wall and closed his eyes, trying to regulate his breathing and heartbeat. 

After some time, what felt pretty much like an hour or even a whole day, Keith couldn‘t tell, he slowly stood up again. He still leaned heavily against the wall for support. He went over to the sink and cleaned himself up. Luckily, he wasn‘t a messy person while throwing up. But it was still disgusting. He cleaned his bangs with the soap he found, ridding it of anything that could have come in contact with it.

He debated what he should do now. Should he hop into the shower? He was pretty sure he would hurt himself somehow this way. Slip due to his wobbling legs or tired mind...  
He started walking, still leaning lightly against the walls. Unknowingly, his feet carried him to the place he often went to after feeling so miserable. He stood in front of the Black Paladins door. The lights were already turned low, so the other residents were supposed to be sleeping at this time. But he didn‘t know exactly how late it was. He raised his hand to knock on the door but stopped before it could make contact. What if he woke Shiro up? He really needed the sleep. Keith could only imagine, that Shiro was also plagued by nightmares. Shiro hadn’t said anything until now but judging by the way he carried himself sometimes, it was obvious that he did not get the sleep he really needed. It hadn‘t even been five month since his capture. Shiro must have his own demons to fight. Keith couldn‘t put his own on his plate. He took his hand back to his side. 

But before he could step back and turn around, the door in front of him opened. Shiro was standing on the other side, looking surprised down at Keith, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights.  Both of them stood there for a while, none of them saying a word.

”Hey, Keith.” Shiro said in a soft voice, ”What‘s wrong?”

”Eh ehm, I-” Keith stumbled over his words, trying to get out some words, but he wasn‘t even sure anymore what he should say. He bit nervously on his lip and looked to the side, while hugging his body with his arms.

”Do you want to come in?” Shiro‘s voice was still soft and quiet in the empty hallways.

”Weren‘t you just about to leave?” Keith was pretty sure that he had been quiet enough with his approach before to not wake him up. So either Shiro must have been awake or he was about to leave anyway. 

”Well, I can‘t really find any sleep right now.” Shiro rubbed his hand over his neck. ”I was about to get me something to drink from the kitchen.”

”Then I won‘t keep you from it.” Keith turned around to go... well anywhere, but a soft hand landed on his shoulder. Careful, like he was a small animal about to high tail it out of here at sudden motions. And well, he pretty much was about to flee.

”Why don‘t you come in? You can even wait in here until I return, if I should go, or you can come with me?” Shiro left all possibilities open. Keith debated what he should do. But what he was sure of was that he didn‘t want to be alone right now.

So he nodded. ”I‘ll come with you.” He silently mumbled.

”Alright, come on then.” Shiro waited for Keith to make the first move and then joined his side.

They continued on in silence. After they had reached the kitchen and were on their way back, Shiro filled the silence with light small talk.

When they arrived back in Shiro‘s room, Shiro went directly to his bed and sat down while Keith kept standing by the door, quite awkwardly, if he might add.

”Come here.” Shiro offered a place next to him on the bed when he saw Keith still standing there. Reluctantly Keith went over to him. He didn‘t know what was suddenly wrong with him. After all, he was the one who went to Shiro and seeked him out; standing on front of his door like some creep. 

He slowly sat down, back straight as a rod and tension visible in his body. But the fatigue must have been written on his face because Shiro put his hand on Keith’s back and slowly rubbed small circles on the smaller boy’s back, drawing the tension away.

”Do you want to talk about it?”

Shiro always seemed to know when something wasn’t right. Back then in the Garrison and now also in space after living through literal hell in the captivity of the Galra. Still worried about him. Him, the worthless, cowardly, orphan trash. Keith squeezed his eyes closed. He let himself fall to the side, to be exact, into Shiro’s side. He laid his head on the bigger man’s shoulder and hid his face in his neck; trying to escape from reality. He really was low, wasn’t he. Self-pitiying and then looking for symphathy with Shiro.

”Just... just some nightmares.” He whispered, ”No big deal.” But if his feet had carried him to Shiro’s door, the dreams must have had an bigger effect on his psyche than he thought.

Shiro wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulder and rubbed up and down, ”Hey, no matter what, I will always care about you. Your problems are important even if you don’t think so. I will always listen if you need someone. So, will you tell me what bothers you?”

After some more pause on Keith‘s part, he finally replied. ”They were there...” Keith didn‘t say who exactly, but Shiro didn‘t further inquire, and Keith was thankful for that. ”They kept calling me names, taunting me, and...” Keith choked on his words. He just shuffled closer to Shiro.

They stayed like this for a while, basking in the others warmth and security.

”Hey, do you think, we could... cuddle... a little? L-like back at the Garrison?” Keith asked after some more time. He looked up at Shiro, when he felt the other tense.  Keith stomach dropped. 

_Oh_.

Keith slowly entangled himself from Shiro and got upright again.

”I-If you don‘t want, that‘s ok. We don‘t have to...” He said that, but it hurt. Shiro tensing because he had to be with Keith. Had he done something wrong? The silence stretched on and it broke Keith‘s heart. Shiro said he would always be there for Keith, but apparently that was not true. Distance really changes people. But maybe, Shiro was not the one who changed but Keith. 

”I‘m sorry. I didn‘t consider how you would feel about it. Sorry to put you on the spot.” Keith stood up to leave the room. He had taken one step when he felt a hand around his wrist holding him back.

”No, please, wait!” Shiro finally said somehting again. The hurt and pain on Shiro‘s face mirrored Keith‘s. 

”I-I‘m sorry, please don‘t go.” He looked at Keith with big eyes and Keith could do nothing else but to turn back around, fully facing Shiro.

”I do want to. I‘m really so sorry, that I froze up like that just now. I-I just remembered...”

Keith‘s stomach dropped again. He had hoped Shiro would have no problem with it, but apparently Keith was the only one who enjoyed their time. Or so he thought...

”Back then... with the Galra. Eh... It‘s just, I remember, always staying with you during our cuddle sessions in shifter form. But with the Galra... it wasn‘t nice. They forced me to do things in this form, I‘m not proud of... and it just brought back memories.”  _ Oh _ .

Keith was such an idiot. Naturally, the Garla would have used Shiro this way.  
_ Stupid stupid stupid _ , Keith should know best how that feels. He was feeling the same way after all, or at least felt the same way. He had one year in the desert to overcome his inhibitions. And many more years before that... Keith really didn‘t consider Shiro‘s feeling. He is just an egoistical asshole. He would have liked to apologize, but out of his mouth came other words, ”Then why did you do it?”

”Huh?” Shiro looked deep into Keith‘s eyes, trying to figure out what exactly Keith meant.

”You had no problem shifting today.” Much more quietly he added, ”Why now? ...With me?”

”T-that was in the spur of the moment!” He stumbled over his words in hopes to explain himself, ”I don‘t know why that was no problem. There were only the other...”

Keith felt his heart squeeze again. Shiro really didn‘t have a problem shifting in front of the others, but with Keith he did? Did he really not trust Keith?

Shiro‘s eyes widened at the pure hurt in Keith‘s eyes. Realizing how his words must have sounded right now, he tried to correct his aswers. 

”The memory just came back! Please, believe me, it‘s not because of you.” But Keith had heard enough, he turned back around to finally leave the room, but Shiro‘s hand was still wrapped around his wrist. ”You know I don‘t have my full memory back from the time with the Galra. It was just really unfortunate timing right now.” Keith stopped his struggling to get out of Shiro‘s grip but still kept his back to the man. 

”I‘m sorry please stay. I really do want to cuddle right now, I guess both of us could need it.”

Reluctantly, Keith turned back around to face the other. Shiro pulled him towards himself and back down on the bed. Both of the lay down next to each other.

”Thank you.” Shiro quietly mumbled into Keith‘s hair, while cuddling the smaller boy. 

To any outsider, this might seem weird and more like something two lovers would do, but to them it was comfort. A place where they could calm down and just be themselves. A place to forget all worries and drown in the warmth the other emitted; pulling them into a deep and nightmareless slumber.

And if Keith woke up to fur instead of skin the next morning that was fine too.

He would just turn around and cuddle deeper into the amazing pillow slash blanket next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANGST!!!  
> At least I think it is... Is this considered Angst?  
> Should I add it in the tags?


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right now, I have my internship, so I won‘t be able to write as much anymore. I still hope that I will keep up the schedule.
> 
> More Drama!!

Hunk was cooking in the kitchen when Keith entered. The other paladins were somewhere within the castle. Coran, Allura and Shiro were still on the bridge discussing their last mission and any plans they may have for the future. Pidge was probably in Green‘s hangar experimenting with her stuff or looking for her family.  
And Lance was.... well whatever Lance did in his free time; Keith guessed that he must sit in his room doing his skin care regime after their training session. That was his only idea of where he might be, if he wasn‘t in the kitchen with Hunk. Speaking of Hunk, he was humming to himself and swaying his hips to a song only he could hear. Not wanting to disturb him anymore than his arrival must already have, Keith sat down on the counter, cleaning his blade and occasionally watching Hunk working with the alien ingredients. It was really like watching magic, how Hunk was able to make those creepy looking ingredients into something so tasty. 

Hunk continued his light dancing while stirring whatever was in the pot. It only stopped when he finally turned around for the first time and saw Keith sitting less than two meters away from him. With a loud cry -and absolutely not a girly shriek - he threw the pot which was still in his hands in the air only to realize what he had just done and try to catch it again. Naturally it was still boiling which led to him burning his hands. As fast as he had caught it he let in fall to the ground, holding his hands to his body and whimpering slightly.

Keith who had been shocked awake from his trance by Hunk‘s shriek, jumped up from his seat only to see Hunk throw the hot pot in the air and catch it again. He realized what had happened when Hunk cried out in pain because he had burned his hands. As fast as he could, Keith jumped up and ran to Hunk, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him over to the sink and let cold water flow over the Yellow Paladin’s red hands.

”What the hell Hunk?! Why did you do that?!” Keith wasn‘t angry with Hunk but really worried about his teammate. Why did Hunk just suddenly cry out and do something as dumb as trying to catch the boiling hot pot with his bare hands?!

Hunk was still whimpering, but the cold was really good for his hands.

”You scared me!! Since when have you been sitting there?!”

”Me? I’ve been sitting there for more than 20 minutes already!” Only then did he realize that Hunk might not have heard how Keith entered the room and sat down. He thought that the swishing of the door must have been obvious but apparently not as noticeable to everyone as he had assumed.

”20?! No way in hell! Why didn’t you say anything?! What are you? Some kind of ninja or what?”

Now Keith felt guilty, like really really guilty. It was his fault that Hunk had been scared to death and burned his hands. The shame was eating at him from the inside. 

”I’m sorry.” He mumbled with his hair hiding his face while still holding Hunk’s hand under the stream. Slowly he retracted his hands from the yellow Paladin, worried that he might hurt him even more.

Hunk was still jittery. His hands hurt really badly and his heart was still racing like crazy. When he heard the change in demeanor from the usually so fiery red paladin, he finally looked down at his friend when the later took his hands away slightly shaking. Hunk realized that what he said might have been a little bit misleading. But could you blame him? His hands felt like they were on fire. But now he felt bad too. He didn’t want to shout at Keith, he wasn’t even angry with him. It wasn’t really Keith’s fault. Hunk was just really easily scared. He let out a small laugh in hopes of cheering up the Red Paladin.

”Hey man, sorry. I guess I just didn’t see you there. It‘s not your fault.”

At Hunk’s little apology, Keith snapped his head up. Why was he apologizing? Keith should be the one say that.

”What are you saying? You have no reason to be sorry. I’m the one who should apologize more. Because of me you burned your hands.” 

Keith looked at said hands as if they personally insulted him.

”Could be. But I shouldn’t have shouted at you. It’s all good. Maybe Coran will let me in the healing pod for five minutes or so. And if not, don’t worry. Give it a few days and they will be as good as new.” Hunk gave Keith an encouraging smile, but Keith still felt guilty and worried.

”But I’m still sorry, I should have said something when I sat down.” Keith led his head fall again.

”Maybe.” Hunk scratched his neck lightly with his not so burned finger. But he started chuckling again. ”But man, you’re really sneaky! Just how have you gotten inside without me noticing? Come to think of it, I never really notice when you enter a room, you’re always really quiet. And I mean not quiet as in doesn’t talk as much, but like not even your steps are loud, your walking is just really light!” Keith still didn‘t seem to be much happier, now he seemed even more down after what Hunk had said. 

”I-I don‘t mean it as something bad, I think it is really awesome. You‘re like some ninja! Maybe we can even use your abilities to infiltrate Galra bases. I bet you‘d be an awesome spy!”

At Hunk’s exclamation, Keith raised his head again his lips slightly upturned.

”Thanks Hunk. I mean it.”

”Same as I buddy.”

”But how are your hands? Do they hurt very much?”

At the pure worry in Keith‘s shining eyes, Hunks cheeks slightly reddened. He hadn‘t been this close to the red paladin until now. He had never seen that Keith eyes indeed shined like amethysts and where deep like a galaxy. Hunk swiftly looked to the side trying to hide the embarrassment at looking so long into the smaller boy’s eyes. To answer Keith‘s question, Hunk rose his hands and shook them slightly.

”They’re gonna be fine. They don’t hurt as bad anymore. I don’t think they were burned too badly. Don’t worry I will live” He gave Keith a charming smile but then looked down at the food that was lying on the ground. ”I’m more worried that we might have to eat goo tonight, or even worse Coran’s food!”

Keith now too looked at the ground, shivering at the thought of Coran’s food. But he had an idea.

”T-then how about I- I help you to prepare? I think I’m not that bad.”

”You would do that?” The surprise was clear in Hunk‘s voice.

Keith shrugged and reddened a little at the gleam in Hunk’s eyes. ”Y-yeah, on Earth I used to cook all the time.” That it was because his foster father would hit and starve him if not, Keith didn‘t say.

”But you have to help me if I‘m not to poison the team with all the alien stuff.”

Hunk‘s smile was now engulfing his whole face. He loved cooking, but more so he loved to have company while doing so. He nodded like crazy.

”Yeah yeah yeah! Sure. Then let‘s get on with it! We have a team to feed!”

* * *

The paladins and Alteans were sitting at the table eating and talking. Lance especially was talking animatedly about something that had happened during training today and how the mice almost saw him naked in the shower.

”Seriously, Allura, I really love those little fur noses but could you please teach them to not peak at others while they try to take a shower!”

The whole group was laughing at Lance.

”Heey! I‘m being serious here! I bet none of you want to be ogled while showering!”

Allura was hiding her giggling behind her hand, ”I will try to talk to them not to do that again.”

”Yeah, you do that.” With a last huff, Lance let himself fall back into his chair. He raised another spork full of food to his mouth, humming while tasting it.

”Hey Hunk? Did you do something different with the food today? It doesn’t taste as usual. Well not as usual but just different to your normal cooking style.”

”You think it’s bad?”

”What?! No no no, it’s not bad. Actually it’s pretty good. But all you do is good.”

”More like perfect.” Pidge said from the side, mumbling with her mouth full. She was clearly enjoying the food. Especially because it wasn‘t goo food or Coran‘s creations.

”Pidge, don’t speak while eating.” She replied to Shiro with a small ’Yes space dad’ and continued as before.

Shiro let out a sigh, mumbling back, ”I‘m not a dad.”

”But it‘s true. It tastes slightly different but still really good. Actually it reminds me of...” Without finishing his sentence, Shiro risked a little glance to his side where Keith sat. The younger still eating as if nothing was happening.

”Soo, Hunky bear, did you find some new ingredients on our last planet?” Lance was leaning forward. If he had longer hair it surely would be hanging on at least one of their plates.

Hunk had a sparkling grin on his face while listening to the others.

”To answer your questions. Yes, I did take some new ingredients, but the reason why it tastes slightly different is because-” He was looking at Keith, who had now stopped eating and was shooting him a warning glare. But Hunk didn‘t care, he wanted the others to take part in this knowledge. Before dinner, the two of them had major fun preparing the food. Hunk never would have thought that Keith could cook and cooking he could. Keith was actually really good at it. He even got the kid to laugh! 

”-It tastes different, because Keith was the one who cooked it!”

All of them stopped eating looking at Hunk. They had disbelieving expressions on their faces. How could they not. None of them would have thought that the emo loner was able to cook so well. Well, none of them except Shiro.

”Ahh, I knew, that it somehow reminded me of how you cooked.”

”Shiro, you knew that Keith could cook?”

”Yeah, haha, let’s say, he cooked for us before.”

”Okay you now can’t just let it end there. There seems to be some kind of story behind this. So tell us!” Pidge now had her full attention on their leader.

”Yeah, tell us how you got the mullet to cook for you.”

Keith was glaring at every single one of them. They all wanted to hear that story. Well thank you Hunk and Shiro. Now Keith wanted to burrow himself into a hole.

”At the Garrison, I had an apartment with someone, and one night I had invited Keith over for dinner, because Adam wasn‘t home. And when I wasn‘t looking for a second or so, the pan suddenly caught fire.”

Now they were looking shocked at Shiro. How could anyone ever have known that Takashi Shirogane, the poster boy of the Garrison was such a bad cook.

”Luckily, I arrived a little earlier than planned and was able to save Shiro from burning down the building.” Annoyed, Keith took part in the conversation. He had finished his plate and had now his arms crossed in front of him. Shiro laughed at Keith‘s response.

”Yeah, that‘s the sad truth. And instead of just going out to eat, because the food was ehm..”

”Inedible and burned black?” Shiro flinched slightly at the plain truth out of Keith‘s mouth, followed by a little embarrassed laugh.

”Yes, that. Keith decided to take everything in his hands and cook for us. I was really surprised that he could cook that good. Sadly since then, I could only persuade him to cook a handful of times more for us.” Shiro ended the story.

”Then why did you decide to cook for us now?” Allura asked.

”Ehm well th-that‘s be-because, well...” There was still the residue guilt of having burned Hunk‘s hands.

”I burned my hands while preparing the food and Keith was graceful enough to help me.”

”Oh, I hope you‘re fine Hunk. Should we let you into the healing pod?”

”No, there‘s no need. It had hurt when it happened, but now, it is already as good as new. But I would maybe take some ointment if you‘ve got some for burns?”

”Well, surely my boy. Just follow me after we‘re done and I‘ll give you some.”

With that finally over, the group went back to eating. Well that was everyone except Lance, who was still looking at Keith like he had told them he had won the world championship.

”Woah woah woah, nobody of you find that somehow, I don’t know, surprising that Keith can cook?! For real man, what can‘t you do? Are you some kind of superhuman? Why do you always have to be better that anyone else?” The last part he more muttered that spoke out loud.

Keith didn’t know if he should feel flattered by Lance’s words or angered. There was lots of stuff that Keith couldn’t do. Why couldn’t Lance just accept that there were some things that Keith was good as or at least average. But the topic of cooking was a sensitive one for Keith. After all it wasn’t because of a loving house or some inspiring situation that he started cooking. He did it to not starve and be beaten to death. So excuse him if he didn’t want to always eat burned noodles.

”Why can’t I? It‘s because I worked on improving my skills that I can somehow cook something.” Keith mumbled. His fists were clenching in his lap while he was staring at them. The room was quiet and he didn’t want to look anyone in the eye right now. When Lance didn’t reply Keith continued. ”And I’m not trying to be better than anyone else, sorry that I just want to live my life.” His words had more meaning to him than the others could ever understand. ”And If you had wanted to be better than anyone else, you should have used your time doing something worthwhile and not stupid stuff like flirting with everything that has boobs!” 

Fed up with the situation and not hungry anymore, Keith stood up from his place, took his plate and moved to the kitchen, leaving the room behind him in silence. He knew that his words were a low blow, but Lance started it. Keith couldn’t control his words, if it had been about anything else, he might just have let the words wash over him, but not this. Not the reason why he could cook. Lance had no business making fun of him for it or pulling it into his self-proclaimed rivalry. Done with everything, Keith left the dining room and headed back to his room. Maybe some more training could lift his spirits again after Lance had ruined his good mood he‘d had with Hunk earlier.

The room, Keith had left in silence, stayed silent. Nobody knew what to say. The mood had taken an one-eighty in only some seconds. Shiro would have liked to reprimand Lance for what he had said, but he didn’t knew where to start. Sure Keith was known to be a hot-head and impulsive, but even for him it was a bit extreme how he had responded to Lance’s jib.

When he turned his head towards the Blue Paladin, he should have had expected it, but even he was thrown off with how angry the young man looked. His teeth were clenched and his eyes only slits with how furrowed his brows were. His fists were almost shaking with the rage he contained. What was wrong with them today? Their emotions were running wild and no one knew why.

Before he could even mutter a word, Lance stormed off out of the room, Hunk soon followed running after the angered Cuban boy. The rest of them again were left speechless. While Pidge just shrugged and went back to finishing her plate, Allura and Coran threw Shiro concerned glances. He knew that he would have to talk to the boys later. Even the thought of it had him already exhausted. 

And after the evening had started so nice with a good dinner.

* * *

”H-hey buddy, calm down, I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that. We all know how hard working you always are.” Hunk was running after Lance who had just stormed off during dinner. He knew that Keith’s words must have hit hard but it had been a long time since Hunk had seen his friend this angry.

”No, he did. I know exactly that he meant them just as he had said them. That shitty mullet, he’s such an asshole. Acting all high and mighty one second and the next as if I had just kicked his puppy and then proceeded to eat it. He shouldn‘t act like the whole world is against him. He has no right to react like that. There are others whose situation is so much worse and he is still thinking that everything is revolving around him. He has gotten even more arrogant than at the Garrison.” Lance was ranting a mile a minute. Not stopping at insulting Keith on his way to his room. Hunk was just walking behind him, huffing because of their pace and finding no space to interrupt Lance.

”Lance, please calm down. You take this too much to heart.”

As fast as he was walking before, Lance stopped and turned around to face Hunk. ”Too much to heart?!” He spit in Hunk‘s face, ”He is the one who takes a little joke too much to heart. And he uses every opportunity to humiliate me!” Lance was looking at Hunk with such hatred in his eyes that all words Hunk would have liked to say died right in his throat. Why was his best friend suddenly so angry at him?

”Lance, I know how much his words have hurt you. He had no right so say them to you. He doesn‘t know how hard working you are. How much time you have spent in your room revising everything from class or how long ago you started to learn to become part of the Garrison. But same as him, you as well don‘t know how hard he might have been working.” Hunk was able to finally get Lance attention on him and not have him running away. But now he needed to let the other boy see just how wrong both of them were. He didn‘t know about Keith situation but it was obvious that it wasn‘t as sunshine and flowers as Lance always made it out to be. Now he only had to make the other realize this too.

”Just calm down first. Both of you were wrong. He never should have said this and you shouldn‘t have said this as well.”

”But-”

”No buts. Lance, only because you think that something is funny, doesn‘t mean others think so too. Especially Keith. You should have learned by now, that he takes things much more seriously and by word than others. I won’t force you to apologize-”

”Good, because I won’t.”

”-But please, just promise me not to antagonize him too much. Especially about things you don‘t know the situation of, or where he might be a little better than you.”

Lance still had his eyes narrowed at his friend. But after some time staring defiantly at each other, Lance deflated and relented. ”Fine, promise. Now excuse me, I want some time alone.” With that, he turned around and headed for his room, leaving Hunk standing alone in the hallway looking after his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hunk and Keith bonding time!!  
> And a little Hunk and Lance


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter! More bonding time! Hope you like it!
> 
> And again, thank you all so much for the comments and kudos!!! <3<3

Keith was slashing away at the robots. He had already defeated at least twenty when Shiro came in. Keith acted like he didn‘t realize this and ignored the Black Paladin who kept standing in the doorway. When the twenty-first bot hit the ground without a head, Shiro finally moved again slowly walking towards the middle of the training deck.

”Mind doing a one-on-one with me?”

Keith just shrugged but moved into a defense position facing Shiro. He already expected Shiro to come as some point and talk to him. It was just like him to try to bring him to talk while they were training.

When both of them stood in position across from each other, Keith didn‘t wait long for Shiro to make the first move but ran straight for him. This was routine. Most of the time, Shiro would wait for his opponent to make the first move and Keith knew this. So instead of waiting an hour for something to finally happen, Keith had made it a habit to always attack Shiro first. None of them were taking it easy. Hitting, kicking and evading the other, while trying to find weak points. This went on for about fifteenminutes, until Keith made a mistake. He had tried to use his flexibility to climb under Shiro’s leg while he was trying to kick Keith’s middle, but sadly the moment Keith had grabbed Shiro’s leg and tried to make him lose his balance, Keith hadn’t realized how Shiro’s prosthetic came from his front had caught him by his throat. Shiro used his momentum to pull Keith with him down and pin the younger with his arm to his throat to the ground. Keith struggled below the bigger man, gasping for air and trying to kick him away but nothing was working. For a short time Keith forgot where he was and who held him down. 

The only thing he could see was the dark shadowy outline of a big man perched above him. White glinting teeth contorted into an awful smirk. 

He started lightly clawing at the arm with blunt nails but the pressure increased, even if for only a seconds, a warning. 

He could hear the rough voice of his attacker. Dominating. Controlling. The hot breath hitting his tear stained cheek as he continued to struggle. Warning words reached his ears in a low hiss.

With a last loud cry he fell limp to the ground and let his head roll to the side exposing his neck further for Shiro‘s arm.  
  


Shiro‘s elation at having beaten Keith abruptly came to an end as the later let out an ear-piercing scream, that sounded too much like a wounded animal for Shiro‘s taste, and fell limp in his hold. When he looked down, he saw restricted pupils and glazed over eyes. Keith‘s skin was much paler than usual and even with their hard work out he was shivering. As fast as he could, Shiro yanked his arm away from the younger’s throat. Keith‘s eyes were tear-filled like the last time something similar happened but looked more empty - dead. Shiro immediately recognized the look as one similar to a flashback or shock. He jumbled upright and tried to get Keith back to reality.

”Hey, buddy, come on wake up!” He carefully pushed the bangs out of Keith’s face, combing them back with his fingers. He pulled the younger into his lap and let him rest there, quietly talking to him in hopes of waking him back up.

After about five minutes, Keith stirred for the first time again. He slowly blinked. The fear was still obvious in those amethyst eyes and the shaking was still there. Slowly Keith lifted himself up and looked around the room before his eyes met grey.

”Shi’o?” The voice was quiet and small, Shiro feared that if he moved too abruptly or talked to loud she might break.

”Hey, buddy, you ok?” He asked as quietly as he could with a soothing voice.

”Y-yeah, ’think so.” Keith wrapped his arms around his still shivering body.

Slowly Shiro stood up and held a hand out for Keith to take. He knew the possibility of Keith accepting his help was slim but it seemed that Keith was still pretty out of it and took his hand after some moments of consideration.

”Let’s get you back to your room, alright? I think you did enough training for today.”

”Okay”, His voice was still quiet and just as quiet Keith walked besides Shiro back to his room. Not a single word was spoken between the two of them. When they finally arrived Shiro asked if he wanted some more company but Keith just shook his head.

”No, I’m gonna be fine. Just need some time alone right now.”

”Alright buddy. If there is something, you can always come to me.” Shiro assured with a smile that Keith tried to copy.

”Yeah, good night, Shiro.”

”Good night Keith.” With a last hair ruffle, Shiro took a step back to let the door close.

”Well, guess I have to take another time to talk to you.” Shiro said to himself as he was on his way back to his room.

* * *

The first thing Keith had done the next morning after he woke up with a splitting headache was to ram his fist into the wall, successfully splitting open his knuckles. Luckily not enough to be bleeding profusely. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. But it wasn‘t working. The only thing that  happened was that more and more memories of the previous day were coming to mind, worsening his mood by the minute.

* * *

The atmosphere during breakfast was still gloomy. Coran, Allura, Hunk and Pidge tried to cheer everybody up a little, but it only had minor effects. Especially on the Red and Blue Paladin. They sat as far away from each other as possible not looking at the other even once. Everybody else deflated at the mood, but they had still hope that it would improve over the day. 

But it didn’t. At least it wasn’t improving. 

During lion training the only thing that happened was that Keith kept to himself, ignoring practically everything Lance did, only occasionally responding to his other teammates. 

Lance on the other hand was doing everything he could to stand in Keith’s way and make everything as hard as possible for the Red Paladin.

”Out of the way, hot-shot. Your ego, is blocking my path.” While saying that he rammed the smaller lion out of his way, speeding away from it. The team was so done with their behaviour. Like this they would never be able to form Voltron.

* * *

Keith was swinging his sword like there was no morning. Each and every one of the robots that came for him fell victim to the force of the Red Paladin‘s blade. He had been at it for hours. Even after their team training, he still had too much energy. Too much anger.

Keith was just so angry at himself. Everything that happened yesterday was weighting on his mind. First the argument with Lance and then his melt down in the training room. What if something like that happened again while they were fighting the Galra? Keith would be done for. His team would be done for. He could never show this weakness to his enemies. Maybe Keith wasn’t good enough to be part of Voltron. Why would he? Somebody like him who still has flashbacks from his past about something completely unrelated and can‘t even converse properly or maintain a solid friendship with his teammates should never be trusted with the fate of the universe. 

But instead of wallowing in self-pity, he should do something. No Galra would just stop shooting because he wasn‘t ready, Zarkon wouldn‘t stop spreading evil just because Keith wasn‘t handling his emotions correctly. So if he wanted something to be done, he should take action. From now on, he would spend even more time training and improving his skills. He would never let a situation come so far as it did yesterday. 

But this still left one problem, Lance. He had to do something. But what? He wouldn’t apologize. He had done nothing wrong. Lance was insulting him and sprouting nonsense about something he could never understand. And Keith just said the truth. So there was no reason to be sorry. No reason to go to him and apologize. Or maybe he should? Be the bigger person and not just think of his hurt feelings but of the many people who would suffer if Lance and Keith couldn’t suck it up. Yeah, maybe apologizing was the right action at this point. But how should he do it?

* * *

The next two days were pretty much the same. The team still wasn’t able to properly work together. Luckily, Lance and Keith had started acting normal with the others again. Lance was doing his jokes again and laughing at everything, and Keith, well Keith was back at keeping to himself. Actually not much has changed for him. At least he spoke with the team properly again. Hunk was a little saddened that Keith didn‘t seem to want to repeat their joyous cooking they had some days before, not even to really spent some time with him. But this could actually be because Lance was most of the time with him. 

Keith didn‘t even spent his time with Pidge or Shiro. Shiro had tried to talk to him again after their catastrophic training session, but whenever he approached the Red Paladin, Keith just blocked or dismissed him. 

Pidge had realized that Lance spent now most of his time with being with one of them. It often would result in Keith entering one room only for Lance to appear and make him leave again. That much she told the others. Since realizing this, she had observed the Red and Blue Paladins some more and it was indeed as if Lance was trying to isolate Keith. Together they consulted that this couldn’t go on like this anymore. They had to do something or they would never be able to form Voltron again and save the universe.

* * *

Meanwhile, Keith had decided that it was time to finally get this stupid quarrel behind them.

After training about two hours to somehow deplete more of his energy in hopes not to strangle Lance during their talk, he made his way to the Blue Paladins room where he knew he should be around this time. Standing in front on the door, Keith took a deep breath in and knocked two times. Shuffling was heard on the other side until the door finally opened.

Lance took once glance at the person standing on front of the door and immediately tried to close it again. Before the door could swish shut again, Keith put his foot between door and wall, preventing it from closing. He pushed the door open again and stepped inside the room without invitation and without paying attention to Lance‘s protests.

”We have to talk.” He simply stated when he stood in front of the Blue Paladin, who looked just as angry as the day this whole deal began.

”We have nothing to talk about.” Lance crossed his arms and turned to the side, not facing Keith anymore, ”And it would be real nice if you could leave my room again.”

”Oh we do. And you know exactly what about. I‘m not leaving this room until we‘ve spoken about this.”

”Fine, go on.” Lance finally relented.

”It can‘t go on like this. The universe needs Voltron. They need us. And just because we can‘t suck it up and apologize or whatever, everybody else has to suffer. Do you think that‘s fair?”

Lance deflated, ”No, it‘s not.”

”What I have said, may have been over the top, but so where your comments-” Keith started.

”May?”

”Yes, now let me talk.” Lance huffed and rolled his eyes at Keith‘s behaviour, but let the raven haired boy continue. ”Like I said, it‘s not fair to all the people, all those suffering right now, it‘s not fair to the whole universe, those who count on us to help them, heck it isn‘t even fair to our teammates with how we are acting. We‘re supposed to be a team and it‘s falling apart, just because of the both of us, because we‘re acting like little children. I‘m not saying that we have to apologize to each other and show remorse for what we‘ve said, cause I think we both meant what we‘ve said and wouldn‘t take it back. But I‘m saying that we have to let our anger behind us and be part of the team again we‘re supposed to be. To let others suffer because our feelings were hurt, is not something I‘d like to do or have on my conscience.” 

When Keith had finally ended his ranting, Lance spoke up again, ”Alright.”

Keith looked up at the Cuban‘s voice, ”Alright? Nothing more? That‘s it? It was this easy?” 

”Well, yeah. What should I say? That it‘s shit you‘re saying, cause it‘s not. You‘re right. As much as it pains me to admit it and push my own feelings to the side, it‘s true that the universe needs Voltron. And without us there is no Voltron. It‘s just...”

”What?”

”Ahh, it‘s nothing, nothing that concerns you.”

”Okay?” Keith wasn‘t sure if it really was nothing as Lance said. He had a feeling that it was pretty much all about Keith.

”Fine.” Lance let out a sigh, ”So there‘s no apologizing for each of us?”

”Yes, because none of us want to or would mean what we would say. In this case, I think it‘s better to be honest. Or did you want to apologize?”

”What?  No .”

”Good, because, I don‘t even understand why you would be envious.”

”Envious? Why would you think I was jealous?

”Well you said that I‘m always better that you. Which I wanna say is not true - at all.”

”Yeah, but I never said that I was jealous of you.”

”But you-”

”Uh uh nope no. I never said jealous. I said you‘re always trying to be better. That‘s a big difference. Why would you even say that?”

”I don‘t know, like I said, there is nothing to be jealous of.”

Lance was looking quizzically at Keith, the later just shook his head, ”Alright, whatever. So peace?”

”Peace. If not for ourselves at least for the universe and our team.” Lance reached out his hand.

Both of them nodded and shook their hands once.

”Great, so now that that‘s done, I‘m gonna...” Keith motioned to the door.

”Keith wait!” 

Keith stopped on his way to the door, turned back to face Lance and lifted both eyebrows.

”Don‘t you think it would be beneficial to celebrate our truce with doing something? Together, I mean. Like team bonding, you know.”

”Don‘t you think that could make the situation worse again?”

”Oh no no no, trust me. I‘ve already got an idea. You‘ll only have to relax.” Lance had a mischievous grin on his face. Keith knew he would regret complying to the Blue Paladin‘s suggestion.

* * *

”Lanceeee, whyyy?” Keith whined while the Blue Paladin continued to braid his hair, or as Keith liked to say it, rip off his scalp.

”Don‘t be such a pussy, Keith. Aren‘t you the all mighty Red Paladin of Voltron?”

”I absolutely don‘t feel all mighty right now. Why have I let you persuade me that this was a good idea?”

”Because it  is a good idea. Now hold still, I‘m almost done.” After some more tugging on his hair Lance was finally done abusing his head. 

”Do I look stupid? I feel stupid.”

”No you do not look stupid. Actually, I never would have thought that a braid would suit you that much.” Lance was looking at Keith thoughtful.

”What?” Keith asked after a while of Lance staring.

”Oh nothing. Just thought of something.” When Lance didn‘t continue explaining, Keith didn‘t inquire any further.

The beginning had been quite rough. Keith had to do everything he could to sit still. All of his instincts were screaming at him not to let anybody behind him doing something he couldn‘t see. After some more internal fighting, Keith slowly loosened a bit more, but still forcing himself not to bristle and shudder at what may happen. But his body became lax as soon as Lance carded his fingers through his hair. The rhythmically and soothing motions making him sleepy and relaxed in Lance‘s hands. He almost shivered whenever nails or fingers made contact with his scalp. But he controlled himself not to purr at the action. 

”Come on, it‘s time to wash the face mask off.”

”Thank god, finally!” 

”Hey! It‘s an honor to get some here in space.”

”No it‘s not. It‘s just scratchy. My whole face is itching. Why are we even doing something stupid like this?”

”It‘s not  stupid !”

”Well, maybe not for you, but for me it is. I don‘t want to do this.”

”Oh, shut your quiznack, mullet.”

”Don‘t call me that!”

”What? It‘s a friendly nickname I‘ve made for you.”

”Why? I don‘t even have mullet!”

”Oh, my dear little mullet headed friend, you do.”

”No, only because I like my hair a little longer doesn‘t mean I have a mullet. Stupid.” Keith crossed his arms and pouted. 

Instead of rising to the jib and calling Keith stupid back, Lance just found it endearing how Keith acted, ”Aw, don‘t be like that. Come now, we have to wash this off.” With that Lance pulled Keith towards the bathroom.

While Lance was drying his face, Keith was washing the stuff on his face off. His shirt was a little oversized so it hung baggy around Keith‘s shoulders. The short braid was falling to the side.

”Hey, what‘s that?” Lance moved his finger towards Keith‘s neck where the Blue paladin had seen something dark, like a thin purple-pink-white line. His finger made contact with Keith‘s skin and it was like electricity was running down Keith‘s spine. Shocked, the red paladin, whipped back around, hiding the spot with his hand, while looking wide eyed at the Cuban boy. His whole body was tense and he pressed back against the sink until it hurt.

”Woah woah, it’s alright. Sorry, that I touched you.” Lance raised his arms in a calming manner trying to calm down the frightened boy in front of him. It was obvious that Keith was scared of something. What, he couldn’t tell. But the rapid breathing, wide eyes and restricted pupils additional to the rigid posture was story enough. As quiet and slow as he could, Lance approached the other male.

”It’s okay, you’re fine. We’re in the castle of Lions, in space.”

After some more seconds, Keith came back to himself, discerning his surroundings again. He blinked some times until his focus was back on Lance. 

He shifted his gaze to the side, staring at the ground, ”‘s nothing.” he mumbled.

”Well it’s obviously not nothing, but I won’t pressure you. You don’t have to tell me. But are you fine? Like really fine and not just fine.” Lance was rambling and after same more staring, Keith started to laugh, soon joined by Lance. 

”Okay, that sounded kinda ridiculous.” Lance wheezed out.

”Yes, it did.” Keith said between laughs.

”But seriously, is everything ok?” Lance had his serious face back on.

”Ye-yeah, yeah it is. That‘s just-” He pointed to his neck, ”it’s a sore spot for me. Physically and mentally.”

”Alright, so no touching there again, got it.”

When both had calmed down again, they went back to Lance’s room. Cleaning up all the supplies that lay around. When they were done, Keith was about to leave and go back to his own room.

”You know, as much as I don’t really like that stuff, I think it did its job.” He gave Lance a tiny smile which Lance returned.

”Hey, I said, it was awesome!”

”Now,  that I didn’t say.” Both laughed a little more. None of them would have ever thought that they could talk so civilized with each other.

”Then, good night Lance.”

”Night, Keith.” Just before the door had closed behind Keith again, Lance jumped up to stop the Red Paladin yet again.

”Hey!” 

Startled, Keith turned back around again.

”If you ever want to, you know... talk, about...” Lance made a curt motion towards his neck, ”Just know that I’m here and I will listen. Seriously.”

Keith was shocked. He would have never thought that Lance could be so,... caring. He always seemed like he hated Keith. Maybe their friendship was not as lost as Keith had believed.

”Yeah, thanks.” Keith gave him a little unsure smile and turned around to walk back to his room. This time, Lance didn’t stop him.

A weight was lifted off Keith‘s shoulder. Maybe he could trust in Lance after all. Maybe he could entrust them with his past. Lance had seemed understanding and caring for what had been Keith’s reaction. 

This night, he returned to his room with a little smile, feeling better that he had done before. Maybe not all was lost with him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I‘m sorry if there are a lot of mistakes. I didn‘t proof read it very much...

_ In and out, they said _

_ It will be easy, they said. _

_ There will be no guards, they said. _

_ Bullshit, I say. _

Keith was cornered by two handful of sentries. Shiro was right behind him, sitting on the ground. Bleeding leg and a distant look in his eyes. Keith could hear the others fighting against the Galra in the background of his comms.

They had planned on attacking one of the cargo ships that had just come from a raided planet known for harvesting rare and valuable minerals. And naturally, a planet with such things was on a high priority list of the Galra. 

So, yeah, the plan was to sneak on board the ship. Get some information. And either destroy it in the end or bring the stolen stuff back to the planet. And  _ of course _ , nothing can ever go smoothly and without any hitches...

After they had divided themselves into three groups, Lance and Hunk, Keith and Shiro, and Pidge and Allrura - yeah, at first they didn‘t want to take her with them but she overvoted them... - the sirens had to start ringing when they were the farthest away from each other and their lions.

That had been their cue to leave. They ran all the way back to their lions obliterating any sentries in their way. Well, all of them except Keith and Shiro. For whatever reason, the room they had been in didn‘t sound the alarm. Keeping them in a false sense of safety. Not only that but appearently not only the alarms didn’t sound but the voices of their teammates through the comms had been cut off too. That made the ambush even more unexpected. 

One can imagine, how surprised both of them were when the Galra just broke down the door, filling into the room, thus activating the sirens in there and being suddenly subjected to the panicky yelling of the others. 

So, here they were now. Shiro bleeding on the ground while Keith fought off the sentries that were shooting at them. And when he said  _fighting_ _off_ it was more of a letting the shots hit his shield while he pulled it in front of his and Shiro‘s body.

The sentries didn‘t let up, continuing to shoot at them without pause. They were cornered and partly injured with their friends being on the other side of the ship already.

They had to get out of this room and back to their lions. The others were almost out again. 

Pidge and Allura had already reached the green lion and set off, fighting off the fighter jets. Lucky for them, this ship had only the bare minimum of them. But as long as Pidge was alone out there, she couldn‘t get Allura back to the castle.

The static got worse and worse the longer the fight went on. At first it was only some kind of background noise, but by now it almost swallowed up every second word the others said.

”Shiro! Hold on!” 

The next thing Keith did was pretty dumb, well not as dumb as hitting the button to open the air lock, when he first met the Red Lion, but close. He would forever regret it if his decision led to Shiro getting even more hurt. 

He made sure that Shiro had activated his shield, before throwing himself into the fray, cutting everything that came in his way. If his sword wasn‘t enough, he took his dagger as added weapon. And if they got too close, his claws would take care of the rest. 

His mind was filled with one big red black cloud. Taking over every thought and letting him think about nothing but beating those bots and protecting his brother.

When he came back to reality, he found himself in a heap in metal. Destroyed robot parts littered the floor around him. Some still sparking a last time. To his right he saw one last visor turning black. A hand right next to it jerking due to some residue electricity. 

He inhaled one deep breath, centering him again and deactivated his bayard.

The sight he turned to wasn‘t a nice one. Shiro was still slumped on the ground, his upper body leaning barely upright against the wall. His face much paler than usual. But the worst of all was the ever bigger growing red spot beneath him. 

They didn‘t have any time to lose now. Keith went over to his and pat his cheek a little making sure that he stayed awake. Keith let out a sigh when the bigger man only grumbled but opened his eyes. Bleary and glazed over. He put his arm beneath the other‘s shoulder and slowly got him upright. First into a sitting position then to a kneeling until they were finally standing. They almost fell to the ground when Shiro stumbled after his first step but soon caught their balance. Then they started their way back.

Keith had to get Shiro savely out of here. Well, as save as he could by now. 

”Gu-guys?! We have a problem!” Keith was walking with Shiro slung over his shoulder down the hallway. He had taken pretty much all of the black paladin‘s weight to get them to the exit. Shiro had insisted on walking on his own, but Keith saw that plan getting them nowhere. The guy could barely stand on his own. A bloody trail was already appearing behind them. The steady drip from Shiro‘s leg barely heard over their huffing and stomping feet.

_ It was his fault. If he had payed more attention to everything. To their surroundings, that they suddely didn‘t hear their team anymore. He didn‘t even hear the loud thumping footsteps of the sentries on the metallic ground. Why had he been so inattentive?! All his overhuman senses and he couldn’t even do that! For what were his ears useful if they couldn’t even warn them of the approaching enemies! How could he have let that happen?! Why wasn‘t he shot?! Why couldn‘t the sentry grab his leg after shooting it ripping it more open?! Why didn‘t he stay next to his teammate, his friend, his brother, his only family he had in the universe?!!  _

_ All that training he did every day, and for what? For not being able to help, to fight off those stupid piles of scrap metal! _

Keith shook his head lightly. He had no time to be lost in his thoughts. He could do that after they were save. Save in the castle ship with Shiro in a healing pod. No, not even then... Only when he is back healthy and steady on his feet can Keith spend time hating on himself for being so useless. But now, he had to take action.

At times like this, Keith really could need a gun or riffle like Lance. His sword was pretty much useless in this situation. If sentries or galra soldiers were to round the corner at any moment, they would be an open target.

Keith tried again to reach his teammates, but he could barely make out the words over the static in the comms.

”We could need some help! Shiro had been shot! Guys! Hello!?”

Just when they were about halfway through a long stretched hallway without any spots to hide behind, did a cluster of sentries round the next corner.  _Shit!_   
Only moments after they had noticed the two stray paladins there, they were already in position about to shoot them.

Keith activated his shield and held it in front of both their bodies knowing that his sword was of no use in this situation. He braced of the impact he was sure was about to hit them.

But nothing happened. 

He wasn‘t pushed back by the force of the shots. Neither did he feel pain anywhere stray bullets might have hit and his arm was only straining with the tension he himself put there.

He heard shots being fired but they didn‘t hit them.

Instead, the only thing that happened was the loud clatter at the end of the hallway. 

Keith opened his eyes and focused them on the sentries he expected to be standing there. But he found them lying on the ground, piled on top of each other and still sparking.

Before he could question what had just happened white, yellow and blue figured appeared from behind the corner.

Never had Keith been so happy to see the cocky smirk of his teammate.

Lance and Hunk ran towards them, riffle and cannon still ready for any Galra to appear.

”Hey guys, heard you could need some pros.” Lance said before stumbling over his own feet because he was swinging his riffle around and not looking where he was going.

Keith only had an unimpressed expression on his face. 

_ Okay, he takes it back... the smirk was still annoying as hell. And Lance still and idiot. But at least Hunk was there to save the situation. _

”Thanks for coming.” He gave Lance a little smile and Hunk a more genuine one.

”What happened?” Hunk asked them while rounding Keith to further inspect their injured leader.

”The room we were in was suddenly ambushed by a horde of galra sentries. They cornered us and Shiro got hurt in the fray.” Keith peered down at Shiro’s leg. The bleeding had calmed but it was still too wet for them to stop worrying. ”If he had only been shot, we wouldn’t have as much of a problem, but one got a hard grip on the wound and ripped it open a little.”

”Should I take him?”

”We would probably be faster this way, but I think in this situation it’s better to use your long-ranged bayards. The hallways are narrow and long. My sword won‘t do us any good when they attack us from fifty meters away.”  And it could very well be that Keith was just as strong if not much stronger than Hunk.

He looked towards the other two, gauging if they understood what he wanted. They only nodded once. Satisfied, Keith hiked Shiro further up his back getting a better grip on their half unconcious leader. Keith didn‘t want to do that but he dug his finger right next to the wound.

Shiro roused with a silent scream. Panting into Keith‘s ear.

”Sorry, Shiro, but you have to stay awake.” The other only gave a confirming grunt. But that was enough for Keith. With Lance and Hunk now by their sides, Keith could concetrate less on their surroundings and more on carrying Shiro. 

They started in a light jog along the many hallways. The closer they got to the lions the more the static receded. And with that the battle with the girls came clearer through the comms.

Keith pushed all of them to hurry more almost overtaking Lance who had taken the lead.

While running, he had switched Shiro to some sort of fireman carry taking caution of the wounded leg.

Finally they arrived at the point where they had entered the ship. The lions had dug their claws into the underside of the ship. Out of the range of prying eyes and cameras.

Keith activated his and Shiro‘s helmet and lowered them into the waiting mouth of Red.

”Hunk, can you tow Black back to the castle? We will give you some cover, but Lance you‘ll have to do the majority of it. I don‘t want Shiro to take more damage than already done.”

”Roger that! Blue and I got it.” Lance voice sounded joking but his expression showed how serious the situation was for him. Keith was impressed that he didn‘t say anything about Keith telling him what to do.

”Hunk come back as fast as possible. Then I will fly back to the castle to get Shiro into a pod. Coran did you hear that?”

”Loud and clear, number four. I‘m already preparing one!”

”Good, Pidge? If the battle isn‘t over by then, I want you to get the princess back to the castle as soon as I‘m back. We don‘t want to be less than three lions on the field, even if the other’s force isn‘t as strong as usual.”

”Don‘t worry Keith, I‘m not pressed to return. You don‘t have to worry about me.”

”No, we can‘t risk anything while Shiro isn‘t here to lead. When you‘re back onboard, do you think we need to wormhole away?”

”No, the objective was to stop the Galra from taking the goods of the planet. Even with only four paladins, we‘re finishing the job.” Allura directed.

The plan went as planned. By the time, Keith was done with putting Shiro into a healing pod, the battle was already over. Pidge, Lance and Hunk had taken out all the other fighter jets and the cargo ship was floating uselessly in space.

* * *

They were looking at Shiro‘s still body floating in the cold space of the healing pods. Well, not still exactly. His face was contorted into a pained expression. His eye lids were twitching like he was living a nightmare in the pod induced sleep.

Keith could see his muscles twitching. Flexing, tensing and releasing. And repeating again. Even though it was known to be cold inside, sweat was visible above his brows.

Keith really worried what kind of visions must be replaying in his mind. On top of his list were his experiences in his year with the Galra. Shiro still hadn’t opened up to him. But in no way would Keith pressure him into telling. Even though it could help.... But who was he to judge.

Shiro‘s brows were deeply furrowed. Pained grunts were escaping his clenched teeth.

”Is he okay?” Hunk asked, his voices quiet and worried - displaying all of their thoughts.

”Sometimes, the healing process can cause involuntary brain waves reactions.” Allura explained while she and Coran looked at Shiro‘s vitals.

”He looks like he‘s having a bad dream.”

Keith stared at him in worry. 

”Being prisoner for a year and subjected to his captors‘ whims will do that to you. He just got attacked again by Galra and hurt in the process. I guess, he must be reliving some things.”

* * *

Finally the tense quiet had an end. The whole team had assembled around Shiro‘s pod, starring intently inside when Shiro‘s pained grunts changed to grumbling similar to a person waking up. When Shiro‘s eyes blinked open all of them let out a sigh of relief and happiness. The hazy glaze over his eyes soon turned into one of recognition.

However, the first words Shiro spoke after being released from the pod were not the ones either of them expected.

* * *

”I‘m not finding any coordinates in there. Are you sure this wasn‘t just a dream?” 

Shiro‘s metal arm was hooked up to Pidge‘s computer, while the smallest Paladin browsed thorugh all the stuff she found in there.

”I‘m positive. Someone helped me escape.”

After Shiro had exited the pod, he had started retelling the story of how he supposedly escaped. That some Galra had freed him from his binds and put him in an escape pod headed to earth. 

”And he was Galra.” Allura‘s displeasure was as ovbious as ever. 

”Yes.” Shiro hissed thorugh his teeth. Keith guessed that even he had a limit of how often he could say that a  _ Galra  _ had helped him.

”You know you cannot trust them.”

”You can‘t just pile everyone into one giant box. Ten thousand years are a lot of time for something to change. Do you really think that every Galra will just follow Zarkon‘s command?”

When Allura was about to interject, Shiro interrupted her, ”Won‘t you give it a little chance? He saved me! And I trust that.”

”Wait a second. I think I see it now. Some repeating numbers in all this Galra code. Let me extract it.” Pideg furiously tipped on her keyboard until she exclaimed a jubilant cheer.

Different charts and diagramms appeared on the screen above them, displaying a new star system.

”They are coordinates! They lead here: the Thaldycon System.”

”Then that‘s where we‘re headed.” Shriro seemed to standing strong on his opinion, but Keith wasn‘t so sure about this...

”Shiro, are you sure you can trust this? I mean after all the Galra have done to you They. They took your arm...” Keith stated. He looked down on the object. After all that had happened to Shiro, it could be that his perception was just a little off. But again, on the other side, Shiro might have the best insight on situations such as this one. 

Shiro seemed to want to trust whoever had freed him. Had hope that not all Galra were evil. But what would happen if the worst case situation happened? What if it was a trap? Only for them to step right into it. What would happen to Shiro, who had placed his trust and his teammates lives into their hands only to have it destroyed. 

Keith knew that trust as based as it might seem in the beginning could very easily be broken. Tramped upon and ignored. He had experience with that. With the hurt that followed and continued to be by his side until now, never really mending that one part of him that was so utterly  _ broken _ . Shiro came close once, but even then it never really closed the hole, and then he dissappeared into space. Again. Hopes and trust destroyed. Even if it wasn‘t directly his fault. The situation in the end is still the same. Left behind, broken and alone.

But this time, Shiro wouldn‘t be alone. No, he had a team to protect. And even if that might sound cruel coming from Keith right now, it was exactly that what Shiro was thinking. Keith knew that the older felt responsible for all the teenagers, even the two Alteans. That was just Shiro, who he is. And Keith didn‘t want to risk hurting Shiro even further. The risk of that being a trap was high, of being betrayed and used.

”It‘s worth the risk. Someone helped me escape. If we can locate some allies in our fight against Zarkon especially one from his own side, we might just find a way to take him down.”

Keith just looked at Shiro sadly, but somehow also proud. Sometime, Keith wished he could stay as strong and believing as Shiro. Positive or maybe even just realistic in the eye of betrayal. Of all the hurt he experienced and might face. 

But if Shiro was willing to risk it, Keith would stay at his side to the very end. He would not let his brother, his best friend face that alone.

”I really don’t want to do that. The Galra are not to be trusted.” Different than Keith, Allura still believed in her opinion and was not ready to put that kind of trust in their enemy.

”Allura, please, won’t you at least consider it? Think about it, allies from the inside of Zarkon’s command. That could be a major support for Voltron.”

”Fine, please let me think about it over night. Then we can check the location. But I still don‘t like that.”

Seems like they had a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a reason why I‘m changing the order of the storyline. It doesn‘t fit as well as I‘d liked but I hope it will still make somewhat sense in the end.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR OVER 1K HITS!!!

All of the paladin plus the two Alteans were assembled at the castle‘s bridge when the message came in. Due to the sudden sound of the warning sirens they nearly jumped one feet in the air from their seats. In Hunk‘s case, he did and consequently fell out of his chair.

”What‘s going on?” Hunk screamed. He had been half asleep and woken up abruptly. A thin trail of drool having dried on his chin.

”Seems like this planet has send a distress signal. But it‘s a little older.” Coran was watching the screen, trying to figure out more about their case.

”Then I guess we‘re already too late?” Lance reclined disappointedly back into his seat.

”Not necessarily.” Allura had moved next to Coran, now looking into the signal too. ”It isn‘t too old. There still could be a chance that they still need our help.”

”And what about Ulaz? The Galra that saved me?” Shiro asked, but Keith was sure that he already knew the answer.

”I‘m sorry Shiro. But a distress signal takes priority. Just like I promised you, we will go to the Thaldycon System. Only at a sightly later date.”

”Alright, after this. They could still need our help! Then let‘s not waste too much time. We will go down and look at the situation. Coran, Allura, will you keep on trying to get a connection to whoever has send the signal?” Shiro stood in the middle of the room, directing everyone.

”Right-eo, be careful Paladins, I can‘t get a correct reading on the planet‘s atmosphere. But as far as I can see, the air is breathable and non-toxic for you humans.”

”Alright, let‘s suit up, guys.”

With that, all five paladins left the bridge to get their suits and then move to their lions.

When all of them were floating in space just outside of the planet‘s atmosphere, they tried to assess the planet‘s current status. Pidge had just tried to contact the residents again, but no one was replying. 

”Seems to me like any other planet. With a lot of vegetation.” The nervousness was recognizable in Hunk‘s voice. ”Do-do you think it‘s some kind of trap? You know, like absolutely beautiful planet trying to lure food in?!”

”A lot? Man, I can‘t see anything that isn‘t green. There is absolutely no city or anything human built.” Lance was observing.

”You mean alien built?” Pidge was raising one of her eyebrows.

”Yeah yeah, that.” Lance waved his hand at her through the screen.

”But it‘s true what Hunk said.” Keith zoomed further in trying to see anythign that wasn‘t. Vegetation, ”Maybe not the point where the planet is trying to lure food in but that all this is a giant trap? We don‘t see any beings that could have sent the signal.” Keith was not happy with this situation. An older distress signal and no one there to answer? This just screamed  _ trap _ .

”They could live in caves, you know like the Neanderthal. Or living in trees like Tarzan!” Lance exclaimed.

”Who‘s Tarzan?” Keith asked confused by the analogy.

Lance gasped at Keith‘s question, ”What ignorance! How don‘t you know who that is? That‘s like basic knowledge? Don‘t you know Disney?!

”Disney, I know. So it‘s a character?”

”Yes!! Urgh, ok, I think somebody has to educate Keith. Shiro, wasn‘t that your job? I mean, you‘ve been around him quite a lot in the Garrison, so you must have noticed his lack in social knowledge.”

Keith only grumbled at Lance‘s reference to his social activities. Keith had had other problems than watching all Disney movies.

”Lance, not everybody is forced to watch all of the Disney movies at least ten times with their siblings...” Hunk added.

”Guys, we‘re getting sidetracked.” Shiro intervened before they forgot their mission.

Quiet occupied the cockpits until Hunk broke it.

”Yeah, so like those guys could also be like the Balmerans who live underground with no means of contacting us except send the signal.“ Keith could almost see sparkles in Hunk‘s eyes at the mention of the Balmera.

”Yeah, so it could be possible that this is just a false alarm. But there could also be people, just as you‘ve said, like the Balmera... or Tarzan... that aren‘t visible but still need our help. We just have to be careful and stay together.” With that Shiro was taking the lead and carefully approached the planet. 

As soon as they had entered the atmosphere their dashboards started to flicker.

”Eh guys? Blue just started shaking and flickering.”

”Mine too!” Hunk was almost screaming into the comms. ”I can‘t control where I‘m flying anymore.”

”Pidge? Any idea what could cause the disturbance and how to counteract it?”

”Already on it Shiro, but I find nothing that could explain why the lions are suddenly glitching. There is absolutely nothing in the atmosphere that I‘m picking up.”

”Guy? Over there woah-” Before Keith could end his sentence, all lions were suddenly thrown apart and tossed around by a wind-like force. 

”Urgh, I think I have to throw up.”

”This reminds me of the time Iverson put us into that one simulator!”

”Try to stay together!” Shiro was trying to direct them while being thrown around in his seat himself.

”I can‘t! My lions not responsive anymore!”

”Mine neither!”

Keith tried to get his lion to react again but no matter what he did, Red wasn‘t responding to him anymore.

All at once their lions completely blacked out. With no energy to hold them in the air anymore, they plumeted to the ground some miles apart from each other. Surrounded by only black and little red glowing lights, he was free falling. His stomach was trying to greet his lungs and his eyes started to blacken at the edges. He rapidly blinked and breathed in as deep as he could to stay conscious and get his sight back.  
The ground was coming closer and closer until the lion met with the surface. They crashed into the ground with a loud bang, creating a little crater where they had landed.

Keith was thrown out of his seat and hit his head lightly on the armrest, blacking out for some minutes.

When he woke back up he could hear voices in the distance. It took some seconds for him to realize that the voices that he heard belonged to his teammates. Apparently, the comms were still working. But this were the only good news right now. Everything else was out of commission at least for now. Even the communication with the castle wasn‘t possible anymore. He could hear Pidge talking about staying in her lion and finding a solution for their problem. 

_ ”Keith you with us again?” _ Groaning, Keith stood up from his slouched position, holding his head. It didn‘t seem like he was bleeding or had a concussion, but it still hurt and would make a nice bump. 

”Ye-yeah, I‘m here, Shiro. So what‘s the plan? I‘ve only understood a little at the end.”

” _We‘re trying to meet up at the Green Lion. Luckily we haven‘t landed too far from each other.”_

”How’re we supposed to find it in the forest? S’not like our maps are working.”

_ ” I have one maybe two of those Altean signal lighters here. I‘m gonna shoot one in the air when all of you have departed your lions and then you just have to move in the right direction. If we‘re lucky, I have the systems back online before you can get too lost.” _

” _That doesn‘t really sound like a failsafe plan.”_ Hunk was clearly nervous now, _ ” Wh-what if there are animals out there? Animal who want to eat us!”  _

” _Hunky, breathe, breathe. Calm down. We‘re trying to find each other as fast as possible.”_

”Yeah and the bayards are still useful. With your cannon, you can just blast them away.” Keith had now successfully climbed out of his lion without attaining any more bruises. His lion was on its side and crushed some of the trees growing around here. If you didn‘t look too close one would think that they were in an earthen forest. The leaves were all in dark green colors and the ground was covered in star-shaped moss that looked just like on earth. The only thing different was that the bark of the trees was a really dark purple. But in the shadows that wasn‘t too noticable.

He looked back towards his lion, a silent rumbling in his mind told him that Red was alright but needed some time to get functioning again. He laid his hand on the lion‘s muzzle.

”Gonna be back soon, Red. Rest a little.” The eyes were flickering for barely a second and then stayed dark. 

”I‘m ready, how about you guys?”

” _Me too.”_

_ ”Yep.” _

_ ”Pidge I think you can now shoot the lighters.” _

When all of them had confirmed their presence, Shiro gave the signal to Pidge and she lighted the missile. Shortly after all five of them could see a teal blue light flickering in the sky. Now the guys had a rough direction of where to go and started their track.

* * *

Lance was whistling to himself while walking in the forest and climbing over fallen trees and rocks. At some point he full out started singing Taylor Swift and Beyoncé songs to get the time to move faster. His walk soon turned into dance moves and skipping.

He abruptly stopped his singing when he heard a noise behind him. Looking around himself he saw nothing. He turned back and started singing again, this time more conscious of his surroundings. When he heard another  _ knack  _ to his side, he spun around to spot whatever was making the noise.

”Haha, real funny guys. Good for you that you found me first.”

When nobody answered and no other paladin jumped from behind a tree he became nervous.

”Eh, hello? Guys?” He heard the snap of a twig again, this time from his other side.

”Yeah, great, you can come out now.” Lance was turning in circles ”You had your fun. Gremlin? Hunky bear? That you, mullet?”

None of his friends answered. He started walking again, this time at a much faster pace. He still kept his eyes trained on his surroundings, his bayard ready in his hand. Before he could ask into the comm, he saw movement from the corner of his eye. He aimed the bayard towards the bush, waiting for something to attack him. The bush continued rustling.

When he almost couldn‘t wait anymore, a little ugly man walked out. And it was ugly, from here Lance guessed it went about his mid-tight, had leathery green-grey skin with some hair like a coconut on his whole body. His arms were about as long as his body but really short legs. It had acid yellow slited eyes and little horns on his head. But it didn‘t seem to want to attack him. 

”Ohh, hey buddy, have you lost your way?”

Before Lance could ask any more stupid questions, more of those little creatures appeared from the woods. Lance turned around and  _ yep, they had him surrounded. But Lance didn‘t worry, after all he was a Paladin of Voltron. What could do some little ork creatures do to him? _

Just as he had finished his thought, the little men bared their teeth - their sharp, shark-like teeth and pulled various weapons from behind their backs. Some had little swords and other some batons.

”Haha okay, no prob. You know I‘m just gonna-” With that Lance ran. He shot himself a little opening through the aliens and ran. He hadn‘t hit that many, but those he hit were immedately replaced by new ones. Lance ran screaming towards the location of the Green Lion, occassionally shooting behind him to lose the fastly aproaching men.  _ How could they be so damn fast?! Their legs weren‘t even half as long as their arms! _

He tried to reach his team again.

”Ehm guys?!! I have a little problem here!!”

_ ”Is it small grey and ugly? Cause I have that too.” _ You could hear the fighting going on from Pidges side of the mic.

” _Me too!”_

_ ”Me three!” _

_ ”Good to know that all of us were attacked by small grey men.” _

”Wow, Shiro, did you just descibe humans getting to know aliens? You know the classic alien movies? Only this time it‘s us being on an alien planet... That makes basically us the aliens.”

_ ” I‘m more impressed that you can even talk so much while fighting.” _

”Oh, shut your Quiznack, Mullet.”

” _Guys! Focus!”_

” _Yeah, right. Any idea how to defeat them instead of just shooting at them? Cause that doesn‘t seem to help much!”_

_ ”Just try to not let them attack you. The plan still stands to meet at the Green Lion and if you‘re too far away still, better return to your lion!”  _ Shiro was grunting out, the sound of his Galra arm audible in the background.

* * *

When Keith heard the sceam in the distance, he knew that Lance was in trouble. Without wasting time he summoned his bayard and ran towards where he had heard the scream. While running, those green-grey man came from all sides following him and soon attacking him at full speed.

_ How can they keep up with those legs?!!!  _ They had started clashing their weapons. Because of the height difference his legs had many near-misses with their blades. Keith was slashing and hacking at them but their numbers didn‘t seem to diminish. He heard Lance scream again. This time much closer than before. Fed up with those aliens, Keith put his bayard away and shifted to his animal form. This way he would be much faster and agile, and could attack at the same time. The aliens hesitated when they saw the big cat with the sharp teeth. Keith was baring his teeth and hissing at them, his tail was swishing from side to side agitated. Now on four legs, Keith was clawing at the creatures. With the power behind his paws and tail he could throw at least five of them away at a tree. Now they were even at a good height for him. When he had opened a way towards Lance, he started running. This time the aliens didn‘t seem to be able to keep up with his speed. Soon he arrived at a little clearing with many rocks. 

As he looked around he spotted Lance on the very top, climbing on a big rock the aliens couldn‘t reach. He too had transformed into his animal form. Now a little brown white ferret. Keith saw his chance and ran. With the needed momentum, he pushed his hindlegs from the ground and jumped on the rock and ran / climbed further up, pushing all the aliens down that were in his way.

* * *

Huffing, Lance was still running from the little green men. He really hoped that he would soon arrive at the Green Lion. But guessing from the shot Pidge had fired in the beginning, he hadn‘t even walked half yet. The men were also pushing him further and further from the direction he needed to go. Not soon later, he arrived at a little clearing, the men not far behind. He raced towards the rock wall and started climbing. When he was about five to ten meters from the ground the aliens had started climbing as well. He tried to throw lose stones and rocks at them. At one rock he slipped. His leg was lightly bleeding and it hurt when he put too much pressure on it. He had fallen so much that the men got him. In an last effort to lose them, he shifted and slipped from their grasp. With quick little feet he climbed further up again. Soon he arrived at the last big rock at the top. He ran up and was elated to see that the creatures has too short arms and legs to be able to climb the rest up.

Just when he had thought that he was a save from them and could shift back to shoot all from the top, a black blur appeared from the edge of the forest. It looked like a really big cat. Like a black panther from earth, but that couldn‘t be. It was so fast that Lance hadn‘t even enough time to properly panic as is was climbing higher and higher its eyes trained on the little ferret.

_ ’ _ _Shiiit, its gonna eat meeeee!!!_ ’  Now panicking, Lance tried to think, but the only way away from that thing was to face the little green man. Now it only was a matter of who would be the better opponent. He decided that he would try his chance with the coconut aliens. However, before he could make the first move to jump down from his save position, the panther had just arrived next to him. With eyes as wide as saucers, Lance watched the predator, that was much bigger than him, stand right in front of him.

* * *

Keith had arrived at the top of the rocks. Lance was cowering in front of him clearly petrified. When he inspected his friend he saw that he had a wound on his left leg, like this he won‘t be able to walk, much less escape those aliens. So Keith made his decision. He grabbed Lance‘s thin body with his mouth and held him in his maw, naturally without hurting him with his teeth or crushing the small body. He lifted him up and jumped down the rocks over the little men. Those that were still standing in his way were thrown to the side by his tail or paw. He had found the scent where Lance had come from and ran that way.

Lance meanwhile, who hadn‘t realized that the panther was Keith who had no intention whatsoever to eat him, struggled to get out and away from the sharp teeth and was crying for help. In this form however it was less a shout for help but instead squeaking, barking, screeching and hissing. Keith, if in human form would have rolled his eyes at his partner‘s antics. But it was rather cute, if one wasn‘t minding the situation they were in. Keith just continued running. When they had lost their previous pursuers, Keith slowed down to a trott, sniffing the air to make sure to not encounter any more of those creatures. During their run, Lance had nearly fainted from freight and was finally being quiet. After around ten more minutes of running around the small men, Keith had arrived at the Blue Lion. He lay the now still ferret on one of the metallic paws of the lion, sniffed him a last time to wake him back up. When he had made sure that Lance was ok and back to himself again, he left the lion and trotted to the next paladin. Keith sniffed the air again and noticed that Hunk must be the next closest paladin. As he ran towards the Yellow Paladin, he caught the scent of another. Pidge must have landed not too far from Hunk. So he ran.

When Keith arrived at the little clearing, Hunk was wildly shooting at the little aliens. He tried not to scare Hunk too much and approached him from from the side while attacking the aliens himself. He always kept Hunk in his sight as to not be ambushed suddenly by the cannon. He was pretty sure that Hunk would attack him if he came too close to him while he looked like he did look right now. He would welcome it to not leave this fight with holes in his fur and body,  _ thank you very much. _   
While he watched Hunk he saw, that three of the little men were sneaking up on Hunk from behind him. Before they could jump Hunk, Keith saw his chance and attacked them, throwing two of them to the ground. Due to his momentum, he now too was laying next to them.

* * *

Hunk had seen the black blurr run towards him, but before he could react and shoot it, it was running past him and attacking those aliens. Hunk hadn‘t seen them sneaking up on him, if that big -  _very big_ - cat hadn‘t attacked, Hunk would be seriously hurt. Now only one was left standing behind him that Hunk was ending with his cannon. Meanwhile, the panther like animal had stood up again and was now watching Hunk. But other than first expected the panther had no aggression in his eyes, no hint that it wanted to attack Hunk. Something told him, that his animal wouldn‘t attack or hurt him. So he decided to trust it for now, he turned back around and started shooting at the aliens again. Now he saw too how the cat was fighting with the creatures. Together they were able to defeat all of them until no were coming anymore.

Hunk dismissed his bayard and turned around to look for the panther. When he did he realized that the Panther was already watching him.

It flicked its tail once, then turned around and trotted away in the direction where he thought Pidge might be. Right at the edge of the clearing it stopped and looked back at him. It continued to stare at Hunk like it was waiting, flicking his tail from side to side. 

_ Did it want something from him? Should he show his gratefulness for the help?  _ Hunk just kept watching waiting for it to disappear again. Not knowing what it was waiting for, he just tried his thought.

”Ehm, thank you...?” It sounded more like a question than statement.

If the panther was human, Hunk could have sworn it seemed to deflate and roll his eyes at Hunk. The panther started trotting towards him again. This time Hunk became nervous.   
_ What if it had enough now? What if Hunk had insulted it? Wasn’t his thank you enough? What if it wanted to eat him now?!?!  
_ But instead of eating him, the panther carefully walked around him and pushed at the back of his knees with its head, letting him almost fall to the ground. When Hunk had regained his balance again, the animal was standing in front of him again. It looked back at him and started trotting away again. Its eyes looked just too intelligent to not be a sentient being. And again just before it disappeared it stopped.

”Ohh, do you want me to follow you?” The animal just continued looking.

Finally understanding what the creature wanted from Hunk he jogged towards it. It hadn‘t eaten him until now, saved him multiple times and had helped him defeat the small green men, the least he could do was trust it a little and follow. When he had nearly reached it, it started to run off into the forest. It kept running in front of him through the woods. Whenever Hunk thought he had lost it, the panther stood only some meters in front of him, waiting for Hunk to catch up. When he had run after the animal for more than five minutes, they reached another clearing. Hunk was leaning his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath. His rasping breath and the huffing was so loud that he didn‘t hear the clashing in front of him. That was until he heard it.

”HUNK!!!!“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The inspiration for the aliens came from the movie Moana. You know, those coconut men... yeah they‘re kinda in some way supposed to look like that and a mixture of... something else... who knows, maybe Gollum.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don‘t have very much time to write right now (and no new ideas.) so I don‘t know how the updates will happen in the next time. :(  
> BUt I‘ll try my best.
> 
> Again thank you all so much for so many hits, kudos and comments. They make me so happy each time I read them :D

”HUNK!!!!“

His head snapped up towards the voice.

In the clearing in front of him was Pidge, bayard in her hand and fighting the little green men. The green lion right behind her. The panther too was seen at the edge of the clearing also fighting. It was really scary how it fought. None of the aliens had even a little chance of coming out unharmed after being hit by its paws or teeth. But Hunk didn‘t have that much time to continue staring at his companions fighting when he himself should finally join the fray. 

Before he could however, Pidge was approaching the big cat. Apparently she didn‘t she it as a helping hand in their fight, just as another enemy in the crowd. She lifted her bayard ready to strike, when Hunk screamed.

”NO, Pidge!! Don‘t hurt him!! He‘s helping us!!” 

Hunk‘s warning had reached her only seconds before she hit the creature. She was able to move her bayard away from slicing it in half. Thankfully, the panther had jumped out of the way before any more damage could have been inflicted.

”Oh my god, I‘m so sorry.” Pidge was shocked with how she acted and how fast she was ready to strike. ”I didn‘t know it was on our side.”

Hunk jogged towards her while still shooting at the aliens.

”Luckily, you didn‘t hurt it. Let‘s hope it continues to be on our side.“ They watched as the animal turned around to strike the aliens again.

Naturally, Keith continued to fight for them. Pidge hadn’t intentionally tried to hurt him. She didn’t knew that Keith was her teammate right now. He understood why Pidge attacked him. He would have been happier if she didn‘t but there was nothing he could do when he looked like a predator and was in the middle of a fight against some aliens. He had even expected her to react as she did.

However, opposed to what they believed, Pidge indeed had hurt Keith. His left hindleg had now a deep gash. But that was something he would keep to himself, not wanting to worry them and guilt-trip Pidge. He would just have to return to his lion first and soon, before the bleeding became too apparent.

When they were finally done fighting, having beaten all the green men that hadn‘t retreated, Keith sneaked off back into the woods. He needed to return to Red now. The cut was still bleeding sluggishly and the blood was sticking to his fur. Luckily it was black, so it wasn‘t too obvious. Actually it was kinda weird that after being slashed by Pidge’s bayard the wound was still bleeding. It should have been cauterized, so it was a mystery to him why he was bleeding at all. Maybe it hadn’t been hot enough or something like that. 

He had helped Hunk, Lance and Pidge. Shiro could hopefully hold his own against the aliens, so now he should take care of himself. Red was already making an uproar in his head. 

”Yeah, I know Red. But I needed to help them. And see! Nobody seemed to have gotten hurt, only some scratches and bruises. Yeah yeah, not  _ more _ hurt. I‘m on my way back, so stop complaining.”

He only received a huffing noise as answer. Red wasn‘t too happy how Keith had thrown himself into the fray. But was still proud that he helped his teammates.

And it was true, he could hear all of his teammates were save and Shiro had gotten back to the Black Lion.

When he finally arrived at the place Red landed - or more like crashed - she had the particle barrier back up, meaning that she had some of her power back.

”Hey, girl. You better yet?” As response he received a quiet purr and a flash of warmth in his mind.

” _Oi, mullet! You still alive over there?”_

Keith let out a silent groan, but was relieved at the same time that Lance had recovered enough to make jokes again.

”Yeah, I‘m fine. How are you guys holding up.” This reminded him, that he wasn‘t as fine as he said. He had transformed back into his human form when he arrived at Red, but now he looked down to see just how bad his wound was. Luckily, it wasn‘t as bad as he had feared, but it was still bleeding lightly. 

_ ”We‘re fine. Hunk had found me and we‘re now here with Green. With his help I‘m almost finished with everything. Give me some more minutes and we should be able to hail the castle ship.” _

_ ”Great news, Pidge, good job you too. I hope none of you have been hurt.” _

_”Don‘t worry Shiro, me and my greatness have victoriously defeated the aliens.”_ You could practically see how Lance was ruffling his feathers - if he had any. Instead Keith had an imaginary picture in his head with Lance standing heroically on a mountain with a puffed out chest. Keith had to suppress his snicker. But that wasn‘t too hard, the sting of the cleaning medication on his skin, was burning off any other thoughts. 

”So nothing of great importance happened? Have you guys found any hints or information as to why they suddenly attacked us?” Keith clenched his teeth as he was putting the bandage around his leg.

_”No nothing, Allura and Coran didn‘t even have any information of hostile residents.”_ Shiro was telling them.

_”Oh oh oh you will never believe what has happened to me!!”_ Lance was shouting exitedly into the mic, _” So I was fighting those creatures and out of nowhere this big cat appeared and grabbed me and hauled be back to Blue. Can you believe that? Like I had the sitution fully under control but the flea bag just dragged me away, like it was marking his territory.”_ Lance was now full out ranting.

_”Wait! You mean a big black cat that looked like an earth panther?”_ Pidge had stopped typing on her computer.

_ ”Eh, yeah.” _

_ ”The same happened to Pidge and me. Well no, we weren‘t dragged from the fight, but it assisted us. Like it first approached me and fought off all the aliens and then led me to Pidge.” _

_ ”Ok, woah, seemed like you guys had quite an adventure. I didn’t see anything like that. Keith you too?” _

”No, I same as you, fought alone. Maybe it only helped those who needed it.” A loud  hey was heard and it obviously belonged to Lance. ”But I managed to go back to Red. It seems as if her power is almost back.”

” _Yeah, Black too. But better save the power. Only one of us should contact the castle. Pidge how far along are you?”_

_ ”Wait, wait woah woah woah! You tell me that the big ass predator that almost  ate me was helping you fight against those aliens and then just suddenly disapppeared?” _

_ ”Well, you see I was also scared that it would eat me and Pidge almost attacked it, but it still helped us and was just gone when we looked around.” _

_”Maybe it‘s some sort of forest spirit, that helps those who are lost and in need.”_ Pidge was contemplating.

Keith on his end had to hold in his laughter. Some forest spirit he was. He leaned back against the pilot chair and closed his eyes. He was exhausted after running around the forest and then fighting off the green-grey men for hours. Hopefully, Pidge would soon be able to contact the castle. He would have nothing against a small nap in his bed. The adrenaline was slowly receding, leaving his body and mind tired.

Keith had almost fallen asleep when Pidge whooped at her end. 

_ ”I have contact to the castle!” _

Keith switched on the screen and true to the fact, Allura and Coran appeared, having worried expressions, but soon turning into ones of relief.

” _We‘re so glad all of you are alright! We lost contact to you and then all of you were just thrown to different places. Due to the atmosphere we couldn‘t even locate your exact location.”_

_ ”We’re so sorry Paladins. We should have done more research on the planet. Are all of you unhurt? What exactly happened?”  _

_”Well when we entered the atmosphere of the planet, the lions suddenly experienced a black-out and then were pulled apart like a tornado was around. We lost the signal to each other but could luckily talk again after some doboshes. We made the plan to meet at the Green Lion but on our way there, every single one of us was attacked by some little green grey aliens. But none of us are too badly hurt, right guys?”_ Shiro asked into the round and every paladin agreed with their leader. 

”That’s good and kinda concerning. When you’re back, we should look into this planet. Coran and I also researched the distress signal and found out that the planet was giving off weird vibes that were received in the castle databank as if it was a distress signal.”

_”So there was actually no one who needed our help?”_ Lance was groaning, also falling back into his seat.

_”I’m really sorry Paladins that we didn’t realize this earlier.”_ Allura apologized.

_”Don’t worry , Princess, we’re all alright and when Pidge is done, we‘re coming back to the castle.”_ Shiro was hoping to cheer up the princess a little, after all it wasn‘t her or Coran‘s fault. The planet was just a little weird, thats all.

They cut the connection again and waited until Pidge was done. 

Keith had finished bandaging his wound and put his armor back on. It stung a little but shouldn‘t be too obvious while walking. He got up and walked forward only to trip and land on his knee.

”Shit, okay plan B. When someone ask, say the little mosters got me.” Ugh, he could already see Lance‘s face - _’_ _ Aww did the wittle strong red paladin get hit by wittle gween men? Aww comi here, I will kiss the ouchie better.’ _ \- Keith snorted. Yeah Lance was exactly like that. That or he would tell everyone how much better he was.

’Hey Red you feeling better?’ He received a warm purr as reply ’When do you think we will be ready again? - Okay, just a little while. It is great that you‘re doing better.’ He laid his hands on the controls and pet them lightly.

_”Guys? I got it!”_ Pidge was announcing through the comms.

_”That‘s great, Pidge. So what do we have to do to get the lions flying again?”_ Shiro asked.

_ ”Actually, not much. Green told me that it would probably be enough to wait for them to have enough energy again. I built something that will make the atmosphere have no effect on the lions. I‘m just not sure on the radius. Either we should fly really close together or form Voltron. But there is no saying how well that will go with how depleted the lions are.” _

_ ”Then I guess, we‘ll just have to go with the first solution. Better save than sorry. Wouldn‘t like to fall to the ground again mid-flight.”  _

_”Great! Then what are we waiting for?”_ Lance shouted all excited throught the comms. 

”We’re waiting for the lions to recharge enough for us to fly.” Keith replied monotonous.

” _Oh, OH yeah, yeah, sure, thanks captian obvious. I knew that.”_

Keith just grumbled silently and rolled his eyes. And he guessed that his teammates did just the same.

When the lions had enough energy again and no other being had attacked them, they decided that it was time to try to fly to the castle. The trip went without any problems. Pidge flew with Green to every single other lion to collect them and together they flew steady and a little too close to comfortably fly back to the castle. There were moments when one of them almost fell back to the ground because they went too far from Green - most of the times this was because someone rammed their lion into the others. 

”Paladins! It‘s great to have you back!” Allura and Coran welcomed them in the docking bay when they had finally landed.

”I hope there had been no further problems.” Coran said while he twisted his mustache. 

”You said something about being attacked planet-side. What exactly happened?” Allura inquired further.

”Well, I guess, we can explain it during dinner. Anyone else hungry?” Shiro was looking at everyone else. 

”Oh, yeah we‘re starving.” The paladins all agreed.

”Okay, then it‘s decided. I will cook something fabulous for the great adventurers!”

”Ehm, Coran? How about I cook and you ehm...” Hunk was fidgeting. He and the others really didn‘t want to eat anything Coran had cooked. But he didn‘t know how to say this without hurting the older man‘s feelings.

”Lance‘s been hurt. How about looking at his injuries.” Keith helpfully replied. He too didn‘t want to eat anything Coran would cook. He could eat lots of stuff that didn‘t taste good - but that was earth food and not creepy alien ingredients. 

”Huh?, how do you-”

”Righty-o, then off to the med bay, number three!”

* * *

When all of them were finally gathered in the dining room and ate Hunk‘s delicious food, they each told their tales about the planet.

”Like it was just looking at me!! Wating with its big eyes right on me! I really thought it was gonna eat me because I wasn‘t grateful enough!” Hunk ranted, explaining about his meeting with the panther.

Lance started laughing, wheezing out his words, ”You- you really thought it was gonna eat you, be-because you didn‘t properly say  _ thank you _ _?!_ ” 

”Ehh,  _ yees _ _,_ you haven‘t seen it. No scratch that, you  _ did  _ see it. But then you should understand! It was a big really big scary carnivorous cat!”

”Actually Hunk, you wouldn‘t know if it was carnivorous.” Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, ”After all, it was an alien panther. So it could very well be that it wouldn‘t eat meat.”

”Pidge, to remind you back,  _have you seen its teeth_?!  No way in hell, did it not eat meat!”

”Hunk, language.”

”Sorry, Space Dad, but it‘s true!”

”To interrupt your little story, what exactly is a penter?” Allura asked.

”It‘s panther - and its a predator that lives on earth. It is like this big.” Pidge held out a held about chest height.”

”It has very sharp teeth and long claws.” Hunk interrupted Pidge in her explanation.

While they further explained what a panther was and thus also cats and other feline predator as well, Keith sat silently on the side, listening to them rant, trying not to chuckle in front of them.

”From your explanation alone, we could find nothing in out databases that could hint to any animal that looks like that on this planet.”

”Maybe it evolved. No offense, Princess, but your information are over 10.000 years- eh deca-phoebs old. And it didn‘t say anything about the little grey-green residents that attacked us.” Pidge said.

”Yeah, ok, but back to the story.” Lance made shushing motions to the girls, ”Hunk you only told us snippets of what hapened before you were with Pidge.”

”Well you see, it only stared at me. When I didn‘t move it trotted over and just when I thought it was gonna eat me, it pushed my legs to get me walking. And it seemed to exactly want that - me following it. And thus I followed until I came to the clearing Pidge was at. It was really creepy, like it was seeing into soul through my eyes! You know, it just looked too intelligent to be some random animal. And it was really beautiful. I don‘t think anything on earth could compare.”

On Hunk statement, Keith blushed slightly, but not enough to be noticeable and looked away.

”Yeah, it took my body and brought me back to the Blue Lion.” 

”And it still fought with us and didn‘t attack me even after I almost killed it.” Pidge added.

_ ’Weeeell, I wouldn‘t say that she almost killed me, but whatever.’  _ Keith just shrugged internallly.

”I really would have liked to meet it.” Shiro said from besides Keith. Just as Keith, he had kept quiet while the others talked.

”Yeah, maybe there are a whole lot of them and they could assist us with the Galra!” Allura practically beamed at the idea. ”They seemed to be a force to be reckoned with.”

”Could be, but I don‘t think they even know about the war, much less wanting to take part in it. They just disappeared after Hunk and I finished off the last of the aliens. I don‘t think they want to be part of a foreigner‘s agenda. If there is even a ’they‘.” Pidge thought out loud.

”Well, doesn‘t matter. I for my part, do not want to return to that planet.” Lance said. 

”Yeah, only because I wasn‘t eaten this time, doesn‘t mean those aliens are not trying a second time.”

”I guess, that‘s that then. Princess, what are our next plans?” Shiro turned towards the woman in question.

”We will go to the Thaldycon System as promised. After that, we have not yet concluded where to next. I thought we could go to a secluded galaxy and take a little time off. Training and planning further. And if we receive a distress signal - a genuine one this time - we will head there.”

”Well, then we have a plan. We will head there tomorrow. So if there isn‘t anything else we have to discuss, I would say that we have the evening off.”

Lance cheered at Shiro‘s words and stood up. ”I guess this means good night. Hasta la later, amigos.” With that he left the room, the others staring after him. Pidge and Hunk then decided to follow his example and moved out too. Coran and Allura left not soon after, saying that they still had some stuff to do on the bridge. 

”Are you okay?” Keith looked up at Shiro voice. Right now, they were the only ones left in the room.

”Yeah, why?”

”I thought I saw you limping when you left the Red Lion.”

”Oh, that, yeah, you got me.” Keith tried not to panic and remember the excuse he had prepared, ”One of their spears got me. But it isn‘t too bad. Don‘t worry, I already treated it.”

Shiro still didn‘t look fully convinced, ”If you‘re sure then that‘s fine. But if it‘s getting worse or hindering you in any way you have to tell me. And then you‘ll have to go into a healing pod.”

”Yeah yeah, I will take care.”

With a last worrying glance and a shoulder pat, Shiro left the room and went after Allura who had previously asked if he could tag along. That left Keith alone in the common room. He debated if he should head to his room or the training deck. When he moved to get up, he knew what he  _ wouldn _ ‘ _t_ do right now. Not having much to do he headed to his room with the plan to take a nice hot shower.

He took some new clothes - fabricated thanks to the castle - took a red fluffy towel and went to the bathroom. He stripped off his armor and the undersuit. It was absolutely not nice to peel the bloodied bandage off and get the undersuit off without jostling his leg too much. The good thing was that it was black so the blood he couldn‘t wipe away before wasn‘t that obvious. Finally rid of all the layers, he went under the spray. Washing off all the dirt and sweat of the day felt like heaven. He knew how his fur must look like. So he shifted right then and there in the shower - luckily there was enough space for the big cat - and let the water run through his fur washing away the rest of the stuff that had stuck there. The water turned a light rose color when the crusted blood was washed away. His wound hurt at first but soon the sting eased off. When he was done he wrapped himself in the fluffy towel and dried off. He redressed his wound and put some of the anti-bacterial medicine on, Coran had given all of them. Dressed in black sweatpants and a red hoodie, he went to the castle library. 

Since they came to the castle he had spend much of his time reading some interesting books he had found there. To his luck, the translator made it possible to read the book in english, but some he tried to read in Altean or even Galra, cause surprisingly that went a lot easier for him than Altean. Pidge and him had spend quite some of their time together trying to master the new languages.

He took the book he had chosen and moved to the observation deck. He let himself fall into the warm pillows and started reading. He read until the book fell to the side and the exhaustion had caught up to him, encasing him in a deep sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I‘m sorry for medical inaccuracies. I can imagine that what I write here is not exactly what would happen in reality. So bear with me here.
> 
> Sorry, this is quite the short chapter, I don‘t really have much time to write right now.

Sometimes, Keith was the king of bad ideas. Like right now. What in the hell, had ridden him to go to the trainings room with his wound. Ahh, yeah, that was his stupid mind that hadn‘t shut off during the night, replaying one nightmare after the other. Through all of that, it hadn‘t appeared in his mind to rather go to Red or Shiro or even ask Coran for a healing pod, but to go to the one place to make his body ache even worse than before. And to top it all off, instead of looking after his wound, which had  _ surprisingly _ reopened after his fight, he went directly into the shower. Bleeding leg, bandages and all. That he didn‘t bleed out was a wonder. Or more like luck on his side because the wound wasn‘t that big. 

So now he was sitting on his bed in only his boxers and with a towel around his neck, trying to rewrap his leg. 

The gauze around his leg was drenched, blood leaking through or the dried blood now wet. He would have to do his whole work again.

_Yes_ ,  he had ripped open the stitches he had hastily done after their fight. Don’t judge him. Disinfectant, needle and new bandages already lying next to him, he was just about to dewrap the bandage around his leg when his door suddenly swished open.

”Hey, Keith, do you have-”

”Woah! Ever heard of knocking?!” No other than the Blue Paladin stood on the other side of the door, or more like halfway in his room, cause he just barged in. Lance stopped abruptly when he saw the half-dressed state of his teammate.

Only focused on his leg, the new bandage had fallen off of his bed when he flinched and rolled away on the ground.

”What? Scared for your purity?” Lance had crossed his arms over his chest and pushed one hip out while that  _ damn annoying smirk  _ stayed on his face.

”Well, it would be nice  not  to be naked when you just barge in here and have at least a  _ tiny  _ amount of  _privacy_. ” Keith grumbled through his teeth.

”Calm your tits, Mullet.” Lance walked even further into Keith‘s room, without his consent as Keith would like to stress. This like this really irritated him. Sure, Lance didn‘t know. But Keith absolutely didn‘t like not having at least a little respect or a say in his consent. So sue him if he wanted to bash Lance‘s face in.

”What‘s that?” Lance stopped some meters away, his eyes on Keith‘s leg.

”Oh, eh, that‘s from the planet we were on. You know those little beasts? Yeah, eh, they got me I guess.” Keith turned around to get himself at least a little bit more dressed. He pulled a burgundy t-shirt over his head, all the while facing Lance.

”Did wittle Keef hurt himself?” Keith would really like to slap him right now.

”Lance, you were also hurt...” He replied with a straight face that turned into a light smirk, ”And I did not need an animal as backup.” He bent down to pick up the discarded gauze. He made a face at the uncoiled mess.

Lance spluttered trying to find a good comeback but nothing came to mind, ”Yeah, well I... I- fine. We both got hurt... Can I see?”

The speed with how fast Lance‘s mood could change was incredible. 

”There‘s nothing really to see, just a scratch. Don‘t worry, Shiro already lectured me on, saying something if it hurts and so on...” At least half of it was still neatly rolled up.

”Hmmm” Lance was looking intently at the half-done work around Keith’s leg, ”Do you need some help?”

Keith frowned, why would Lance suddenly offer to help Keith? ”No thanks, Lance, I got it.”

”Are you sure?”

”Yep, absolutely,” 

”Hmm, nope, not taking no as an answer.” Lance walked over to Keith and pushed him back on his bed. Keith let out a yelp at the rough handling.

”Woah, hey, Lance!” 

Keith lay on his back while Lance hovered over him, both of his arms pushing Keith down by the shoulders.

”Calm down, buddy, don‘t worry I won‘t take your virginity.”

”Lance! Get off me! And who even said that I was a virgin?” Well, it was kinda true. Keith was never interessted in that stuff. Or more like he either didn‘t have that opportunity or his past had just ruined that for him. Yeah, being forced to be the plaything of other men or women, even if not overly sexual, still left a pretty bad impression on the young mind. Additionally, Keith knew that he was not ’normal’, at least down there. He had found that out in school and through various books. Even the scientists had proven it. And he had to admit, he was also kinda scared what others would say. Would they call him an abnormality? A mistake? A freak-of-nature? Would they mock him for being different? Well, more than they had until now...

”Meh, I just guessed. Maybe you are, maybe you aren‘t, so don‘t be like that. I‘m just gonna help you rebandage it. And this time better than whatever you have done here.” Lance pointed down to his leg.

Keith harrumphed, ”Sure, it looks bad, I just came out of the shower.”

The other made a grimance at the implication that Keith went like this into the shower. Lance pulled the old gauze away from his leg and cleaned it. Luckily, he assured Keith that he didn‘t need stitches. How he knew that, Keith didn‘t know. He would always ratther stitch it up than risk it opening again. So Keith pushed Lance away from his body, took the needle and pulled it through his flesh two three times. Lance winced and was obviously a little paler than before.

While doing all that, Keith was relieved that Lance didn‘t ask about the various scars littering his legs. 

Before Lance could put the new gauze around his leg, the door swished open again.

”Hey, Keith- woah!” Pidge stood on the other side of the door while the two boys were still laying on top of each other in Keith‘s bed.  Why _did everybody just storm into his room today?!_

All three of them stared at each other with big eyes. ”Oh, ehm, okay, then I‘m coming back later.” Lance scrambled away from where he had been perched over Keith and Keith sat back up. Before Pidge could turn around Keith had to make sure not to let her get away with a wrong impression of the situation. Only god knows what that Gremlin would tell the others. Lance laying on top of Keith in his bed while Keith was only half-dressed was  not  what he ahd wnated others to see or wrongly interpret.

”No, Pidge, wait! It‘s not- it‘s  not  what you think!”

Pidge turned around with a smirk, ”And here, I thought you two were finally bonding.”

_ ” Pidge!”  _ Lance exclaimed, ” _ No,  _ I‘m only helping him change his bandages!”

”Oh.” Pidge‘s smirk turned into a frown of worry, ”What happened?” She approached the two boys still sitting on the bed.

”It happened on that planet. O-one of their spears got me.” He looked to the side, avoiding looking Pidge into the eyes. Because, after all, it was actually Pidge‘s bayard that did the injury. Keith pulled his leg to the side and tried to quickly put the bandage back on but his fumbling was interrupted by Lance‘s hands who was annoyed that Keith tried to ruin his ’work’.

Pidge came even closer peering over Lance‘s shoulder while the other rewrapped the gauze.

”How, comes that the edges are lightly burned? As far as I‘ve noticed, they didn‘t have anything that could have burned you.”  _ Shit, damn Pidge and her observational skills. _

”I don‘t know.” Keith winced inwardly. He really would like to face slap himself right now. But he really didn‘t know how he should explain to Pidge why this wasn‘t a regular cut. ”It just happened... Maybe they had something on their weapons that slightly burned the skin.” Keith mumbled trying to be as convincing as possible.

But it seemed like he wasn‘t really successful. Pidge narrowed her eyes at him and looked closely at his leg. Fortunately, Lance was done by now pulling the bandage around his leg.

”Thanks.” 

”No problemo, bud.” Lance pat his leg two times and Keith would have liked to take it back additional to slapping him back. But before he could say any more, Lance was already running out of his room. Whatever he had come here for forgotten.

Now only Keith and Pidge were in the room staring after the blue paladin.

Pidge slowly turned back around but didn‘t say anythign instead continued to pierce his leg with her calculating gaze. 

”Pidge?” Keith tried to get her attention away from his leg but her mind was solely focused on the bandages.

Keith debated what he should do. Somehow he had to get Pidge‘s attention on something else. He was pretty sure that if he gave her any more clues, she could figure out that his wound looked much too similar to what her bayard could do and that his wound was surprisingly rather close to the spot where she  _ could _ have hit the panther. 

While contemplating his next step, Keith realized that he was still in only his underwear. The whole fucking time had he only been in his underwear... while Lance was here and now with Pidge. He couldn’t become any more scatterbrained could he...

Putting on some pants would be the simpelstes way to get her gaze off him.

Getting up with a slight wince, unnoticed by Pidge who was still looking lower than his face, he went over to his wardrobe and got out some pants.

Luckily, by the time Keith turned back around Pidge‘s gaze wasn‘t on him anymore, but she still had that contemplative expression while staring at the ground.

When Keith cleared his throat, her face snapped back up towards him.

”Hey, you okay?” Keith asked her when they had eye contact again.

”Yeah, yeah, just thinking.”

”Well, then I guess I don‘t have to worry. Cause when are you not thinking. You‘re lucky that you‘re not Lance, otherwise I would have to be really worried about you now.”

Both of them laughed. 

Keith took up his discarded towel and rubbed the last wetness from his hair. 

”Soo... why did you storm in here like that before?”

”Eh, oh, OH, yeah, Coran showed me one of the old ’Projects Rooms‘. Appearently, you can observe anything in there. You once told me that one of your favorite subjects in school was biology, right?“

Yes, one of his favorite subjects was biology. Quite ironic, isn‘t it... Being used as an experiment for the sake of revolution, biology and whatnot, he now, liked it just as much. If his brain had been any normal, he would detest it and try to get as far away from that stuff as possible, but no. He had to become just as interested in that stuff. Maybe it was because he had wanted to understand what those scientists were going on about. What was different about him. Understanding how humans, animals, plant etc. worked. How he worked. How he could use his body for his own advantage. Or maybe it was a way to protect himself. Knowing what was considered ’normal’ for a species such as humans was essential to not stand out. To protect the last of his mind, body and self.

”Yeah?”

”Well, inside you can take apart and build together anything. To the tiniest molecule and make a projection of it. Just imagine it, I could built anything in there and only do so in theory.”

”You mean without destroying anything as soon as your experiment explodes?”

”Yeah, exactly! We can use the database to learn all about what the Alteans have found out. And we can store our new findings there as well. Like take on a plant of a nearby planet and have millions of copies to experiment as much as we want without using the original. There, you’ll have aprojection of it and can touch it, take it apart and put it back together differently. Not even our earth computers could to that. Not even close.”

Pidge had sparkles in her eyes while she continued to explain what she had found and could be done in this ’room’.

At some point when she was finally done with ranting about what they could do, Keith asked her if she had already had some breakfast. Cue her growling stomach. 

His let out a light chuckle and both of them started towards the kitchen.

What Keith didn‘t expect was for Pidge to suddenly shift into her bird form and fly onto his head making herself comfortable in his hair. 

”Really, Pidge?” Keith lifted his eyebrows towards his hair line letting them disappear behind his bangs. The only reply he received was the shaking of the little bird while she fluffed her feathers.

She stayed there until he had fully prepared his and her breakfast and put the plates on the table. Only when he was finally seated did she fly down and land on the chair next to him, shifting back to her human form.

Her expression could only be described as the cat who got the canary, even though she was more the canary than the cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read:
> 
> I‘m gonna take a little break from posting for a while.  
> I just don‘t have time to write right now and honestly a little idea block.  
> I try to be back in max a month. Hopefully with new chapters.  
> I really hope people will still be here by then.
> 
> Edit:  
> Alright, I take it back, it‘s gonna be more than a month. I‘m really sorry. It‘s just that until now, I had absolutely no time to think more about the story to continue writing. :(  
> But I still hope, that it‘s not going to be much longer


	19. Beach, Sand and Issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liiiiivvvveeeee!!!!
> 
> Soooo, it's been exactly one year since I've started writting my first fanfiction, and I thought that it would be a good time to finally finally post a chapter again. And I'm so so sooo sorry, for having turned one month into more than half a year and still not have come much further with writing. To be honest, I had my focus constantly switching between ideas and never really writing much to it...  
> Shame on me really (*hides in some corner*)
> 
> Yeah, so that's that. I will only post two new chapter for now, and I'm really so sorry for not doing much more.  
> ____
> 
> To the chapter: I'm sorry if Shiro seems a little ooc (Keith actually too but that' nothing new) and the story basically random.

Pidge and Keith had barely finished their food before Allura summoned all of them to the bridge.

That had been days, maybe even some weeks - Keith didn’t know, without sun here in space, it was difficult to tell and with a disturbed, irregular sleeping pattern, it wasn‘t any easier - ago. During that time, they didn‘t had any time for themselves. Either out fighting in space or accompanying Allura to some planet for some peace treaties. Right now, they had probably been awake for more than 40 hours.

They. Were. _Tired._

They didn‘t know why there was suddenly so much to do. Just some weeks prior, they were lucky if they found a distress signal not from thousand years ago. And now, it just didn‘t stop. Don‘t get him wrong. He was more than happy to be able to help all those in need. With Zarkon in power over the last ten thousand years, of course there would be much to do. But they were only human. Most of them not even of age. Allura and Coran just didn‘t seem to understand that. That humans needed sleep. And Shiro wasn‘t any help with his serious and focused attitude. Making the Alteans think all of them were some kind of superhuman-alien. Even if in reality, each of them gave a different picture.

Hunk was snoring behind his seat lying on the ground using one of his arms as pillow. Occasionally, he would kick his foot out, dreaming. And If Keith was seeing it right, a small puddle of drool was already forming below his chin. He grimanced, but couldn‘t fault the big guy for that.

Pidge was hanging over her laptop. From an angle it could seem like she was concentrating on some numbers playing on the screen. But from everywhere else, she was just as out cold as Hunk.

Lance was nowhere to be seen. Probably in his room, lying in a real bed like everyone else should have been as well.

While Keith himself was slouching in his seat, he would watch Shiro sway from side to side every few minutes. Even if the others didn‘t see his exhaustion, it was clear as day to Keith, well a day on Earth - not in space. He couldn‘t fool him. Keith could basically smell their tiredness wafting off them like an aura, with an underlying tint of stress.

Keith should just follow Lance‘s lead and go to his room. Get some sleep while nothing was going on. But something in his exhausted mind told him to stay. Berating him that no one had dismissed him yet. That even thinking of leaving his place was _wrong_ and _bad._ He thought about why he listened to that voice, but each time his mind came up blank. Would he have had a clear mind, he would have beaten those thoughts until they were gone and destroyed. But right now, they were cloudy, telling him to listen to his ... his... - what?

He shook his head almost falling out of his seat. What he couldn‘t avoid was the headache slowly creeping in.

Keith groaned. Even with the tiredness weighting his mind, his whole body was twitchy, feeling like tons of ants were crawling through his veins. But he wasn‘t in the mood to let himself be half beaten to death by the gladiator.

He rubbed his arms until they turned into light scratches. Soon he had his nail dug in deep into his skin, not yet drawing blood but definitely leaving welts behind. It was a good thing he realized what he was doing before he had unsheathed his claws.

He looked back towards Shiro and was surpised to suddenly see his friend no longer standing but already dozing in his seat, slack limbs hanging out over the armrests to both sides.

Apparently Allura had seen that as well right that moment. Keith could already see the reprimand on her tongue before she let gaze wander around the room falling on each asleep member of the team, effectively shutting her up.

He didn‘t know which deity was listening to their plight, but destiny decided for once to give them a little reprive. Maybe Shiro had had a say in the matter. Their next destination was a planet not far from a galaxy of beautiful spots in a calm galaxy. The Alteans seemed to finally have realized the state their pilots were in - or maybe they were exhausted themselves - and promised them to visit one of those planets after their next mission.

When they were done after three more day of fighting and discussions, and then two more days of travelling and training, just like Allura promised told them, they finally had arrived.

The quadrant hasn’t been conquered by the Galra yet. So, they used this opportunity to relax a little, or as Allura said, find the calm to train some more. Actually, they were supposed to plan on what they would do next but they just couldn‘t find the concentration to do so. Lance was hopping all around the room with absolutely too much energy keeping them all from working.

Even Pidge and Hunk had been infected. Well, Hunk more so than Pidge, she just was excited to see more of the planet. She wasn‘t really one for nature.

”I always get sick because of my allergies and I get sunburned.”

”Hey, but maybe not this time! Cause, your allergies are from our system and maybe those suns are different from ours.” Lance suggested while draping his upper body over Pidge‘s shoulders.

And that did the magic. Now, she was just as into going to that planet as Lance and Hunk were. Naturally, she still pushed Lance away from her so that he fell on the floor, but the Blue Paladin ignored that in favor of jumping back up and running more around the room.

Keith for his part, sat calmy at his station. He wasn‘t that excited to go there. Sure, the beautiful planet did interest him and all. What didn‘t, was that they had to stay together for the whole journey. And that journey was mostly spent at the beach, thanks to Lance and partly to Hunk. He wanted to do his own thing and not be dependent on their whims, cause it was gonna be like that.

If Keith wanted to go somewhere else, Lance would do everything in his power to stay there. He was sure, the Blue Paladin would even shed some crocodile tears if it was necessary. They had gotten along much better, but Keith still wouldn‘t call it a real deep friendship.

And it wasn‘t like he didn‘t like the beach. He actually had never been to the beach before, so he was kind of looking forward to seeing it for the first time. The stories others told, and the gorgeous posters of travel agencies were tale enough how breathtaking the view could be.

But the bad thing about the beach was that it always included the sea. A wide expanse filled with water. He had quite a few worries about this trip.

The planet they stayed at was gorgeous. It reminded the humans of Earth. If someone had accidentally switched all colors and been on steroids but it was still stunning and not bad enough for them to get eye cancer.

The sky was a mix of green and turquoise with some pale pink clouds but otherwise clear, the sea still a bright clear blue sparkling in the planets reddish sun and the beach a mix of white and lavender, making it a really pale purple. The tree‘s which looked awfully similar to palm trees with pink leaves and dark brown wood were lining the edge to the beach. The further they went away from the water the thicker they got, the leaves crowning them soon covering the whole trunk to the bottom, making them look like overgrown potted plants.

Surprisingly, the planet was pretty much empty, not a lot of people and just the bare minimum of animals were living here. The colony of the habitants was on other quarter of the planet. It was only strange that such a beautiful planet was not stronger populated. A place like this would be the perfect tourist attraction. If it had been a place on Earth, they were sure that this beach would have been overpopulated. Barely a single spot where one couldn‘t see some people lying on their towels or families playing and resting. But Coran, Allura and Pidge couldn‘t find anything wrong with it. Well, they all knew how well that had gone the last time. But they were ready to take that risk. Again...

Even if they had decided not to go, it was impossible to get Lance away from there. He was already seated in the Blue Lions cockpit, bag packed behind him and ready to fly out. Nothing they would have said could have stopped him now. And if Lance was killed because we wanted to go swimming, fine by Keith. At least the water wasn‘t acid and the beach made of quicksand. But he would still let Lance test it before he went anywhere near that.

Before the other lions had even landed on the planet, Lance was already seen swimming in the bright blue, which taking a closer look looked greener than blue with a light red tint.

Pidge and Hunk were the next one to leave them. That left Allura, Coran, Shiro and Keith to get out all their bags from the lions. They all had their own little bags with supplies for the day. Coran and Hunk had packed them enough food and drinks, which they now put safely in the shadow of a palm tree in their direct line of sight. 

The Paladins were in their usual swim wear provided by the castle. All of them wearing shorts in their respective color. Even Pidge but she additionally had a bikini top. Lance had bet she would appear in a full-blown bathing suit but seemed like he had been wrong. Even if the top was hidden most of the time by a baggy t-shirt. The most stunning sight of them all was the princess, she had a white bikini that looked radiant on her tan skin. Her silvery hair was done up in a high ponytail and sunglasses sat on top of her head. To round it all up, she wore a pink thin see-through loose shirt that was cinched around her waist and reached to her tights. Unlike, Lance and Hunk, Keith and Shiro didn‘t leave their lions in only their trunks. While Shiro wore a light grey tank top, that was just on the brink on too tight, Keith had a black shirt, not unlike his usual one. Lance almost had had a heart attack when he had seen Keith. Calling him something about an ’emo at all times’. Keith had just ignored him. He hadn‘t planned on going into the water after all. Just sitting on the sand and enjoying the view, staying far away from the sea. That should be enough for him.

And he did enjoy it. It was just so different from anything he had ever experienced. The sun, the wind, the sand. Everything was nothing like it had been in the desert. While he was used to dry scorching heat, the wind carried a cool breeze with the smell of the sea. Slightly cooling his sun heated skin. The orange sun sparkled on the water‘s surface, creating a deeper red shine. He never would have called sand soft until now, but it was. Not the rough texture he knew, but much finer.

He saw the other three paladins swimming and running around in the water and slashing each other. They seemed to have quite a lot of fun judging by the loud laughter that ringed clearly around them. Shiro was standing just there at the shore, looking out at the horizon, or just relishing the breeze. Keith didn‘t know, Shiro‘s face was turned away from him. But his posture was lax, relaxed, nothing visible of the usual tightness in his muscles and the ever-ready mindset that let him catch no rest.

He was so sunken in thoughts that he didn‘t realized that it had gotten oddly quiet. Only when he was drenched in cool water, did he snap out of his mind, spinning around to catch whatever had just dumped water on his head. Or more like whoever. The three perpetrators were standing there laughing their asses off.

”Lance!” Keith hissed, cause he was pretty sure that it was his idea. Pidge was not far down on his list, pretty much directly under Lance. But the most obvious hint was the bucket he tried to hide behind his back. Failing in doing so of course.

They continued to laugh, which soon turned more into a wheeze than anything else.

”Yo-you look l-like a drowned... CAT!” The laughing did not stop, as did Keith‘s glower. Hunk had already retreated from the scene scared of catching a knife in his gut, Pidge was about to do the same, inching further and further away from the very wet Red Paladin. Lance on the other hand rolled himself in the sand still not stopping laughing about Keith and his drowned cat look.

The sand would stay with him for eternity. That was the only good thing. He bet Lance would have major problems getting rid of the sand, which surely was about now in every crevice of his body.

”Hey! Stop laughing! It wasn’t that funny, now, was it?” He grumbled.

”You‘re right, you‘re right.” Lance had stopped crackling for one second before he started again, ”But the look on you face was perfect!”

”Are you done now?” Keith raised one eyebrow. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest, black hair still dripping onto his legs. The towel he sat on was just as wet. Maybe he should take Lance‘s and put his up to dry. Seemed like the perfect solution.

”Ahh, yeah, eh no, actually, we wanted to ask you to come into the water, we could use on more person.”

”No thanks.”

”Yeah, that‘s great, we wanted- huh? No?”

”Yeah, no. Means, I don‘t want to go into the water.”

Lance just looked at him dumbfounded and maybe a little bit hurt? Keith didn‘t linger on it, because the brief flash of sad emotion immediately turned into an annoying smirk. ”Aww, are you allergic to water? Or you can‘t swim! That‘s it, isn‘t it? The great Keith Kogane, Paladin of the Red Lion, is scared of water, because he can’t swim.” Lance‘s smirk was only seconds away from starting his laughing flash all over again.

”No, I can swim. I just don‘t want to go.” Well, that wasn’t the complete truth. Keith tried to keep his face as emotionless as possible, fighting the blush and bad memories back. It wasn‘t like he couldn‘t swim. He could paddle and swim a little but not all that well. He just never really learned.

How could he? Wasn‘t like there ever was somebody who had been interested in teaching him or rather him learning to.

He just somehow figured it out. Out of necessity naturally. Wanting to stay above the surface to survive has some benefits.

He wasn‘t really scared of water. He was fine with showers and bathtubs. Sure, he did have nightmares of drowning, but being forced to overcome his trauma by adding more trauma

kinda overcame the inhibitions. Or not. Who knows? Keith wasn‘t really invested in finding out. And in the desert, he didn‘t had to.

During his ’stay’ in his old master‘s home, he was forced to endure the water, baths and what not. Even though, he tried to resist due to all the _unfortunate_ experiments he had to face at the facility. Some methods to torture him - or _teach_ him, how they‘d had liked to call it - even entailed being drowned.

And if that is repeated and repeated and repeated, additional to being forced to be in constant contact with water, because, of course, they didn‘t want him to stink. He kinda got used to it. Don‘t get him wrong, he was still scared shitless of being drowned and let anywhere near that. But he had no problems touching it or being in contact with it. However, if he can avoid it, he would gladly do so.

And running around and slashing each other, entailed just that. So, he would stay here, no matter how much Lance complained and whined.

While Lance continued to rant some more, Keith just stood up and went over to their stuff. Leaving a gaping Lance behind.

He sat down again, and just like he had promised on a blue towel, while the red one fluttered in the wind and dried in the sun.

He sat down a little further from the others looking out towards the horizon. He carded his fingers through the fine sand letting it falls through his fingers back to the ground. Repeating the soothing motion. He closed his eyes and felt the wind on his skin. Unneeded thoughts soon entered his mind. Images of an alternative life where he was at the beach on Earth. Without all the mental baggage or physical reminders of his past. A life where both of his parents were alive and with him...

He shook his head and pushed the thoughts away back into a drawer in the back of his mind, hopefully to never be opened again.

Soon enough, Shiro sat down next to him. They stayed like that for a while, just sitting there looking out at the sea, enjoying the gentle breeze and listening to the sound of the waves... and the yelling teenagers a little further down.

“Wanna join the other?” Shiro asked after a while.

“Nah, I pass.” He replied without breaking his sight away from the waves meeting dry sand.

“Is there a specific reason? I think it would do you some good to have a little team bonding.”

“I‘m just not that fond of water.” Shiro just gave an acknowledging hum.

”And you didn‘t go in either.” Keith added.

”Now that is not true. I will have to tell you that I was!” Shiro answered with mock indignation.

”Yeah, with your feet. That doesn‘t really count.”

Shiro gasped and gave another sound of mock hurt, raising his hand to his chest, ”How dare you.” Both of them chuckled lightly in response.

”Is something bothering you?” Shiro asked again after some more relaxed quiet.

”Huh? Why would you think that?” Now, he finally turned around to face his friend.

The Black Paladin shrugged, ”You didn‘t appear very excited about this trip. And you brushed Lance off when he wanted to do something together.“ Keith raised his eyebrow at the last sentence, ”Ok, that isn‘t something really unnormal, but still. You seem awfully quiet, especially now. And aren‘t you hot in there?” Shiro pointed to Keith‘s shirt.

Now, Keith had both eyebrows raised, ”Aren‘t you just the same?” Keith let his eyes roam over Shiro‘s torso which was just as covered as Keith‘s.

”Yeah, but I kinda have a reason.”

”As do I.” Keith stared back out to the sea, trying to keep all emotions from his face. He really hoped Shiro would read the atmosphere and let it drop. But of course, nothing could go like Keith wanted it to.

Shiro let out a sigh. He knew if he didn‘t steer this conversation right, it would end in Keith closing off even more. ”Keith, you know what I mean. I don‘t want to scar the others with how I look.”

”Well, I think you kinda forgot that I‘m in the same boat.” Keith repressed the little bit of hurt that wanted to crawl into his voice. He had told Shiro about his scars. During one of their talks about why Keith never liked to shower with the other cadets. They had mocked Keith and theorized what kind of ugly body he must have had. He hadn‘t shown them to Shiro, so the latter didn‘t know the extent Keith was talking about.

And maybe that wasn‘t even the problem. His scars sure as hell didn‘t look like Shiro‘s. The other hadn‘t openly shown them to the teenagers. But Keith had caught a glance here and there after the shower or when Shiro just unconsciously raised his shirt to wipe off sweat. And no, he was not staring at his friend, like that just sounded. Shiro‘s scars weren‘t pretty. Raised, discolored skin. Some looking like straight cuts while others more like a beast ripped into him. Keith‘s on the other end, were clean cut, treated immediately after being inflicted to not let them scar _too_ bad or get infected. Even the whip marks that were split open repeatedly didn‘t look as bad in comparison.

He didn‘t want to compare his body to Shiro‘s, didn‘t even want anything like compare their misery or past. But maybe that was also one of the problems. While Shiro had fought, resisted, and been tortured, Keith on the other hand had been treated like a pet, been carefully stitched together, whipped only because he misbehaved. Methodically scarred by all the scientists. Had been compliant and docile while they did what they wanted. Not fighting back in fear of much more misery.

They silence between them soon became uncomfortable.

With a quick decision, Shiro sure as hell hadn‘t planned, he ripped his shirt over his head away from his body. All his scars now open for everyone to see.

Keith gaped at him. He knew how uncomfortable Shiro was about them. About what the others would think and the memories seeing them would bring.

”You don‘t have to be ashamed of them, Keith.” Keith was still blinking dumbly at his friend.

”Shiro, put the Shirt back on. I know you don‘t like this.” His tone indicated that he was done with this bullshit.

”No, come on, we‘re now taking our tops off and go to the others. There‘s no reason to be embarrassed.” Shiro stood up from his place next to Keith, confident of doing this. He held his hand out for Keith to take.

Keith let out a long sigh and made no move to get up, ”Shiro, it‘s not about being embarrassed.” Keith‘s anger slowly surfacing. Why did Shiro have to try to do the right thing. Keith didn‘t want to, so Shiro should just let him be. It didn‘t help that Shiro misunderstood the whole situation.

And he was obviously confused about that.

”If you‘re not embarrassed about them, then what‘s the problem?” Shiro slowly sat back down, trying to figure out what Keith was talking about, ”Are you scared of them? Of the memories?” He had a soft tone and laid his hand on Keith‘s shoulder. ”It took some time for me to really understand it, but scars are a prove of what you experienced, that you survived.”

Keith‘s mood took a downturn real quick now, his anger was bubbling just below the surface. Not only did Shiro misunderstand the whole situation but he tried to use _that_ sentence to cheer Keith up and encourage him.

”You didn‘t just say that - to _me_ of all people.” He forced the words through his clenched teeth. Maybe he was overreacting, but he didn‘t care.

”Have you forgotten who told you that?!”

Shiro‘s expression of understanding and guilt showed Keith that he did in fact not forget.

”Yeah, that was _me_! _I_ told you that those are reminders that you survived. I know that! Know _that you; what I_ survived! That is not the fucking problem!”

”Keith-”

” _No_ , Shiro, _now_ you listen! I‘m neither ashamed of my scars nor scared of them! I’m not standing in front of the mirror and think about killing myself; I don’t see them and am immediately reminded of how I got them; I‘m not thrown into a flashback just because I feel the raised skin; I’m long over that. No. I‘m scared that the others will ask from where I have them! I don‘t want them to ask me! I don’t want them to know. I‘m not ready for that, yet.” He really didn‘t want their pitying or disgusted looks, whatever they would be.

Shiro was stunned at Keith‘s outburst, he hadn‘t expected his best friend to react this strongly. They stared at each other. Shiro thinking about how he should reply without further agitating Keith. Shiro licked his lips a little, swallowing the growing tension, he finally replied, ”But they didn‘t ask me. Why should they ask you?” But seems like that was still the wrong thing to say.

Keith really loves Shiro. He was so dear to him like no one else. He would jump into fire to save him. But sometime that idiot could be really dense.

”Godammit, Shiro. They already _know!_ They know how you got yours! I‘m sorry that I have to say it like this, but it is no secret from where you got your scars.” Keith took a deep breath and stood up. Remorse filling him when he looked at Shiro‘s face.

Keith was just angry. At Shiro, at the scientists, at his asshole _master,_ but most of all, at himself. And now he let his anger out on the only person who helped him. But Shiro could sometimes be really oblivious. A dumb, lovable, extremely nice dork.

”I‘m sorry.” Keith took another deep breath, trying to calm his fury. ”I didn’t mean-... I shouldn‘t have shouted. It‘s just...” Keith rubbed at his arm trying to find the right words, ”...a sore spot. I don’t want to talk about it. I-I just need some time right now.” The last sentence was spoken quietly, soft, before Keith turned around and went to the edge of the foresty area leaving a stunned and honestly quite guilt-ridden Shiro behind.


	20. Beachtime Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, guys, you‘re making me cry!!! I love you all so much!!! Thank you all for your wonderful and encouraging comments ❤️. You don‘t know how happy reading those make me 😭
> 
> Merry Christmas!!! 🎄🦌🎁  
> I wish each of you happy holidays and I hope that even with covid you‘ll be able to enjoy the feast with your friends and family! 💖  
> Stay safe and healthy

Keith found himself again closer to the water. He had gone a little through the forest but soon exited it again to rather head to the beach. The forest was really fascinating but something kept calling him to the ocean. Maybe it was the similarities to the vastness of space, maybe it was the calmness which washed over him whenever he looked out at the waves, the wind blowing gently in his face. It could also be that he just wanted to enjoy this sight. Something he had never seen before, free from any memories haunting the back of his mind.

He sat down at a spot where the others couldn‘t see him anymore but he still heard them. His feet were being swallowed by the soft green waves. It was warmer that he had thought. His arms were laid over his knees, head resting on top. He stared out at the far horizon, letting everything that just happened wash away from him. He knew he had blown up. He did that quite a lot. He knew that was one of his problems. Overreacting, being rash, letting his mouth run over his mind, letting his feelings guide him. Normally that wasn‘t bad. Only when they took the wrong direction or the wrong target.

Maybe he was not as over those memories as he thought he was. The recent panic-attacks should have been hint enough. But he didn‘t _feel_ bad. He didn‘t let them control his life. He only didn‘t want to talk about this. And that was fine, wasn‘t it?

He let out a long sigh. The problem was, he didn‘t know what could trigger him. He had lived through so much at the hands of different people. But he was good. He‘s gotten better. But it was still not enough. Apparently, he still clung to them, to those measly memories. They had infested his mind like some parasite. Not letting go. Never letting him have a completely normal life. Not that he really knew what that was like. But he had hoped that someone could show him. Had hoped Shiro would be the one. Or maybe even team Voltron at some point. But seemed like it was just not meant to be. He always brushed everyone off who tried to help him, screamed at them to leave him alone. Keith laughed at the image of him emitting an aura of ‘don’t fuck with me’, keeping everyone at bay.

Also he wasn‘t that well liked now, was he? Before was just the best example. Lance had wanted to do something together, have fun with the others. And what did Keith do? Shout at him and leave him behind. And then Shiro tried to comfort him and he had nothing better to do that to guilt riddle and accuse him.

Keith really hated those moments. Where he would have time to think about it afterwards. Regret everything he had said and done.

The sigh from before transformed into a deep groan.

But as fate would have it, life gave him a second chance, or maybe even the thousandth. As he was sitting here, wallowing in self-pity, Lance came up from behind him. He didn’t know how the Blue Paladin had found him, but he did. Keith had heard him coming from some meters away. The sand crunching below the other boy‘s feet as he approached him.

In a very unlike Lance-manner, he just stood next to him. Keith rolled into a little ball and Lance standing next to him absorbing the warm rays of the sun.

The situation would have been perfectly mirroring Keith‘s mood if Lance had just walked half a meter further and stood in front of Keith, covering him in his shadow.

Next to him, Keith could feel Lance getting agitated from standing still and not saying a word in like two minutes. Keith suppressed a sigh that was just in his throat and finally relented. He lifted his head slightly from where he had been slouched, but still looked out to the sea, and gave an acknowledging grunt.

Thrown off, Lance stayed quiet fidgeting with his hands before he finally spoke, ”Hey, I know, you weren‘t really interested in joining us before, but we kinda met on the wrong foot, so I wanted to ask you again, this time more nicely, if you want to join us in the water? We could use one more person to play.” Lance was clearly nervous that Keith was about to hit him for stepping in front of his eyes.

He was just about to tell Lance to fuck off, but snapped his mouth shut, words stuck in his throat. Only moments before he was throwing a pity-party for himself because he hated how he had acted towards them and now when he was offered the opportunity to redeem it, he was about to repeat his mistake.

Keith got up before he could change his mind about this whole thing. What could go wrong by trying to have a little fun with the others? And he also wanted to. He finally wanted to enjoy the fun he could have with interacting with his friends, like he had seen all the other kids do. Sure, they were a lot younger then. They were in space, for god-sake, he was allowed to have joy and fun.

Somehow, Keith had to prove that his past fear would not influence his life now. He started towards the others, walking into the water, continuing walking deeper and deeper as soon as he saw Pidge and Hunk.

”Are you coming?” He called over his shoulder.

He was knee deep when Lance finally reacted again and ran after him.

”Hey, are you keeping your shirt on?” The question was innocent but Keith didn‘t give it a fitting answer, only a small agreeing hum.

”O-kay” It sounded more like a question, but Lance didn‘t inquire any further.

After some more meter, Lance finally grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled the raven towards where Pidge and Hunk were swimming further to the right. Jogging behind Lance was no easy task through and over the waves.

” _Hey guys!!_ I‘ve got Keith to join us!” Lance‘s cheer, while he dragged Keith behind him, was met with more cheers from Pidge and Hunk.

Lance was about to pull Keith even further out into the ocean when Keith stopped abruptly, jostling Lance who almost fell into the water.

”Dude, what‘s wrong?”

”Eh- I-I don‘t want to go much further. I‘m fine here.” They were about chest deep. Pidge was already covered to her shoulders.

Lance narrowed his eyes at him but just shrugged in the end, content with having come this far.

Hunk had brought a beach ball with them which they continued to play, tossing it to the others and rotating who had to catch. They had quite a lot fun. At least Keith had and guessing by the matching laugher of the others, they did too.

That was until Lance figured it was time to change the game a little.

And like Keith said, he wasn‘t scared of the water per se but the next thing that happened was just so... _unexpected_.

Keith had just thrown the ball towards Hunk when he suddenly found himself not being able to breath. Fully engulfed by cold and wetness, surrounded by darkness. Well, no not full darkness, but it was certainly darker than the previously bright sun. He struggled to orient himself, but he was weighted down from behind. Keith panicked. He didn‘t know where up and where down was. There was a too tight grip on his shoulders which he tried to get off, hitting and kicking whatever was holding him. His movements grew sluggish and the edges of his vision darkened even more. His lungs burned.

_He could see silhouettes around him, laughing, pointing, some with a cold calculating gaze. Debating what were the best ways to test him, see how long he could escape the cold embrace of death. Pushing him down and pulling him up again and again and again. His fingertips bloody because he was clawing at the construct separating him from the air. He was pounding on the barrier. The cold of the water and the encircling metal the only things he could cling to, anchoring him to reality._

_That and his burning lungs. Oh, how bad they burned, like they were on fire. What was quite ridiculous because why should be they on fire when he was drowning right now._

And only when he was finally met with the cool breeze again, he realized that he had been screaming below water. And that the body which he had though held him below the surface was in fact Lance who had tried to get him up again when he started his panic-stricken struggling.

Keith was coughing out the water he had swallowed. His chest constricting in Lance’s arms, who kindly held him above water and supported his aching body.

Through his hacking and coughing, he didn’t hear his teammates’ attempts of calming him and asking him if he was alright.

”F- m‘fine.” His breathing still sounded rough and scratchy.

”Keith, I‘m so sorry!” Lance was profusely apologizing, ”I never should have just pulled you under the water.”

Luckily, his face was already wet, so the others shouldn’t see the few stray tears running down his cheeks. But he still kept his head down, bangs hiding his face, in fear that they would see the slightly reddened eyes, but if they asked, he could just say that that’s from having gotten sea water in his eyes.

”Are you really fine, buddy?” Hunk had raised his hand which now only hung in the air between them. He surely wanted to pat or rub Keith’s back and thought twice of just touching him. And to be honest, Keith didn’t know if he wanted that contact right now or not.

”Y-yeah, it’s alright. I’m... just gonna,” He pointed back towards the beach.

”I’m really sorry.” Lance’s puppy eyes were enough to make Keith believe him. ”I should have guessed that you wouldn’t like that from how much you already said that you didn’t like to go very far.” Lance hung his head, but still looked at Keith eyes a little shiny.

“It’s fine. I’m alright. Don’t worry.” Keith gave him a watery smile and laid his hand on Lance’s shoulder and squeezed once before wading back to the beach.

”Should we come with you?” Pidge asked before Keith had even done two steps.

But Keith just shook his head, a quite croaky ”No” as reply.

Fortunately, nobody welcomed him at the beach, neither Shiro nor the Alteans. Hopefully, they hadn‘t seen the display. The last thing needed was pity and people hovering over him. He questioned what the trio must think right now. Did they think Keith was scared of water? Of drowning? Losing control? Did they pity him now? He didn‘t know how his reaction must have looked from above the surface.

He took his now dry towel and went further into the forest. His wet shirt clung to his body same as the shorts. And those weren‘t really helpful right now. They were cold and actually felt quite disgusting, pulling him further down. He was shivering. Even the warm rays of the sun or his heated towel didn‘t warm him up. He walked some more until his legs threatened to buckle. He sat down under a palm tree in a tiny spot of sun light, letting it warm his icy body. His bangs were sticking to his forehead, only this time not only because of water but also sweat. He pulled the wet shirt over his head and put the towel around his shoulders. With closed eyes, he tried to regulate his breathing, which still hurt from swallowing some water, and calm his mind. He had to convince his mind that whatever had happened just now was nothing bad, nothing to be frightened of. It was a mistake, nothing more, just an accident. And he would not regret it. He had a lot of fun. Even if it hadn’t ended well. Maybe he had to convince the others too. It wasn’t like Lance had wanted Keith to hurt. Only a little friendly fighting. Nothing bad, nothing to be afraid of to remember.

But Keith still held a little resentment. Why couldn‘t Lance just for once use his brain. Why couldn‘t they just not fight for once, friendly or not. Why couldn‘t it stay like it had only been minutes before that. They did have fun, didn‘t they.

Nothing bad, nothing to be scared of remembering.

_1 minute and 13 seconds._

Nothing bad, nothing to be scared of. They‘ve had fun.

_“Not bad, but still quite average.”_

_“Well, considering that it‘s a five year old, it‘s quite astounding.”_

Keith shook his head, trying to get rid of the voices echoing inside his mind. The voices disappeared but a loud mechanical whirring sound filled the silence instead.

_“Lower the cover.”_

Nothing bad, nothing bad nothing bad. Keith repeated the mantra is his head, but the memories were already crawling back up.

_Keith was led to a big room, he had never been before. On one side was a big computer taking over the whole wall. Different lights were blinking and shining. But the most eye-catching thing was the enormous tank in the middle. It had like a five meter diameter and was about three meter high. The water inside was an almost glowing blue. It wasn’t filled completely, maybe only one third full with water._

_Keith had never seen anything like it before. The water looked like is was sparkling in the light. It was beautiful. Sadly, that was not something he was thinking for long._

_He was pulled along by the doctors and taken to the top where others were already waiting on an adjoining platform. Like all of the people here, they wore white coats and every second one had a clipboard in one hand._

_Keith worried his lip. He knew, he was here for a new test. They always hurt. He was certain that this time wouldn‘t be different, even if he still held hope for it._

_“Jump in.” It was a cold, clinical order from one of the doctors already standing there._ _Keith raised his head to face him before looking back down at the water, which didn‘t look as inviting anymore._

_He shook his head, “No, I can‘t swim.”_

_“And I don‘t care. Go into the water.” Keith could already hear the oncoming anger in the voice. Everyone always sounded like that when he told them no._

_He shook his head again and_ _tried to take a step away from the water. But before he could, hands descended onto his collar and bottom of his thin oversized shirt. Before he had even realized it, he was in the air, falling until his body hit the water. It was cold._

_Keith found his way back to the surface, gulping in air, his feet kicking into nothing while trying to keep above. His small hands hit the surface trying to lift himself up, but each time water swallowed them again._

_“No! Help, pl-pleas’. H-he-lp m-me!” He cried out, swallowing water each time. Why weren‘t they helping him? Why were they doing that._

_He was too preoccupied with not drowning that he almost missed the loud whirring sound above him. He didn‘t know what was happening, but soon he was pushed below the water. An invisible barrier keeping him away from air. He clawed at it and screamed in panic losing precious air._

_He found purchase in the walls of the container, digging his claws into the hard material. Finally the lip was raised again. He gulped in big amount of air, coughing out the portion he had swalloed. His claws were still deep inside the wall while his legs kicked weakly in the water._

_“Again. How about this time, you keep your air in and not panic. We won‘t be getting any results with you acting like that.” Big violet eyes were looking helplessly at the doctors, silently crying for help. Wanting them to wait for him to at least catch his breath. But his hopes stayed ignored._

_“Lower the cover again!”_

_Panic and adrenaline was still rushing through his blood stream, but he knew that he should listen to the doctor if he wanted it to be over faster. He took a deep shuddering breath again before the barrier pushed him down again._

_*_

_Keith was floating in the water, eyes closed and counting the seconds he was already under. When he reached 9,5 Minutes, he opened them again, waiting for the glass to be raised again._

_They had been doing the same experiment now for over a year. His lung capacity was improving each time they did it. He had lost count of how many times he had almost died during them._

_Twenty seconds later and there still was no change. His lungs were burning at his point, feeling like they were about to burst. He started clawing at the glass. He needed it up. Please! Let him out! Air bubbles were escaping his mouth. He dug in harder, finally seeing a fine line where he had cracked it. He hit it again and again until it finally shattered-_

Keith gulped in a big amount of air, breaking out of the horrid memories. He wasn‘t drowning. He was in space, with his friends, fighting aliens, we wasn‘t in the water. And even if he was, now, he had enough strength to stay above the surface. He had the freedom to decide when he wanted to dive and when not. Maybe he should try something like that. Something like therapy. Showing his body and mind that he was in control. Nobody else. But not today. Maybe when they are back at the castle.

_He was in control. Today nothing bad happened. It‘s in the past. He had fun. Nothing to be scared to remember._

He repeated that mantra to himself until the sun changed to a deep red still standing high but coloring the sky in purple and orange colors. Well, shit. That wasn‘t supposed to happen. He brushed the sweat away from his forehead, either from the heat of the memories.

_Well, time to head back, before the others think I was eaten by some kind of monster clam._ Keith stood up and dusted off his pant which were dried by now. He pulled his shirt back over his head and headed back to the lions, towel still over his shoulders.

He arrived right on time as the others were just packing up. He quietly took his stuff and joined the others who were animatedly talking.

He kept closer to Allura and Coran because the others were giving him these sad looks he just didn’t want to deal with right now.

Gosh, and just now he had thought that this day had actually been quite good. Seemed like the others didn‘t quite agree with him there if it was concerning him. He tried to smile and encourage them to do that too. Really, it hurt watching them have those kicked puppy faces on. He should be the one looking like a kicked puppy, not them... But whatever. He was fine right now and didn’t want to ruin his good mood with some sad and draining talks.

They had just put everything away before meeting again on the command deck. Allura and Coran had spent half the day planning what to do now. They were just about to tell them when the alarms rang loudly through the whole castle.

One seconds the monitors showed nothing only the vast expanses of space, but the next a giant ship looking more like bigger and badder version of the castle of lions appeared in front of them, accompanied by hundreds of fighter ships and battle cruiser.

And clearly Galra judging by the color scheme.

Coran was the first to say something and all of them were thinking the exact same, even if maybe a little different versions each.

”Oh no.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith just won’t catch a break. At least not with me. Muhahahah
> 
> Again thank you for all comments and kudos, I reeeeaalllly love them ❤️


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